The Purity of White
by Trenchcoatgirl-Kyo
Summary: Neji gets sent on a mission to destroy one of Orochimaru's old bases and ends up with a lot more on his hands than he had in mind, and Ino learns about the joys of babysitting. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

The Purity of White- Chapter 1 

"He knows the Crimson of Rage and the Azure of Despair… but his eyes will never change; the Purity of White."

That, my friends, was a little drabble written by Kishimoto, on the first page of Chapter 187: Praying for mercy. So pretty. And partially the inspiration behind this fic. The title was originally **Things Orochimaru Does Because He's A Bastard**, but I moved away from Orochimaru and onto Neji, because Neji's pretty and can't do creepy things with his tongue. It gets a little trippy in parts, and I have absolutely no real knowledge of fighting, so please be aware of that. So now I throw my delicate little heart out for you people to step on in an attempt to answer the question that I've been tossing around my head since I first saw the Byakugan in action: Why the hell doesn't Orochimaru want a body with a Byakugan? After all, even Kakashi said it had stronger powers of insight than the Sharingan- that the Sharingan was supposed to have come down from the Byakugan. It has it's own personal style that's be honed for centuries, it's a pillar of Konoha, and the Hyuuga family is considered noble to boot. Why?

Maybe he already has one.

The day was absolutely glorious. Had to keep that in mind, didn't we? Don't want to lose perspective while hearing the slice of kunai through flesh. Not that he was heartless, which would have been a completely acceptable adjustment, rational, even, considering what he'd been through. He just detached himself- no, that wasn't it. He just poured every atom of his being into what had to be done and stopped thinking. Easy.

In any case, the day had been glorious when he'd been called to the Hokage's office, gold and crimson spattered all over the sky. Big fluffy clouds, all lit up. One of the very few days he might have considered cloud watching. Falling asleep in some sunny place sounded nice. But he had a mission.

"Neji, let me make this clear. This place has been abandoned, but it's still one of Orochimaru's old bases of operation. You're to gather whatever data you can, and if any…" Tsunade let out a breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "It's extremely unlikely, but we know he used to conduct experiments there. If you find anyone alive…" the woman was obviously torn. On the one hand, the medic nin in her told her that she needed to help people, but the part of her that she had come to think of as Hokage warned her of danger. "If you find anyone alive, bring them to me. No matter how bad they look."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Neji bowed slightly.

"And Neji…" she stopped. He turned towards her.

"Hai?"

"Try not to get killed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He walked out the door. A fifteen minute weapons check and he'd been ready to go. The old castle was going to take at least five hours to get to. He had stretched and started off.

As the sun rose to it's zenith, the sky turned an azure of heartbreaking clarity. The clouds started to spread slowly across the sky, pouring out like whipped cream. When he'd finally seen the old castle, he'd taken a soldier pill, looked at the sky again, and set off.

Apparently the base wasn't as abandoned as Tsunade thought. So far he'd run into at least ten Chunin, dealt with them without too much trouble. He made sure to memorize all the turns he made, count every room. He didn't want to get lost. So far he'd found several scrolls that would be of interest to the Hokage. He turned a corner. _Left_. What he saw next surprised him.

It was a bedroom. It looked completely normal- that's what was so odd about it. You'd expect a bedroom in a secret base to be… strange, somehow. But this was a completely normal room. A dresser standing next to the window, a neatly made bed against the far side of the wall, a tiny shrine on a shelf above it. Pictures all along a desk, scrolls organized just so, a bookshelf right next to him.

And then he realized what was so strange about this room. It had been used recently. Otherwise, the crisply folded bed would have dust in the rigid creases. Come to that, this base wasn't supposed to have been used since before the Chunin exam, almost four years ago. Everything should be moldering and uncared for. But there was even ash in the incense burner, couldn't have been made a day before. He looked at the pictures on the dresser.

He recognized several faces in them. There were the three Genin from Sound in some of the pictures, and the sound five in others. There were also scattered pictures of a redheaded child, and others of a dog. He guessed that the room had belonged to the red haired child. He pocketed them, taking them out of their frames, thinking to ask Tsunade about them later.

He also looked through the scrolls, searching for information of any kind. Many of the scrolls he recognized from when he was studying for the Jonin exam, basic manuals. A few looked old and rare. And then there was one with the title "Maya", looked to be a log book of some kind. He pushed the unusual scrolls in his pocket and looked at "Maya". The first part seemed to be a family tree of some kind, with only first names. Underneath it was written "Uchiha Taki" and "Uchiha Yumi". He rolled it up and put it in his pocket.

He left the room and rounded another corner. _Right_. He used his Byakugan to survey the area surrounding him. There were seven nin hidden around him. If he pulled it off, he could get past with minimal effort. He put up a genjutsu around himself, thinking that with any luck it would disguise him in shadows that would have cloaked him anyways.

The first two didn't see him, nor did the squad of three hiding in one of the rooms off the corridor. Unfortunately he fell into another ninja's trap as he left the hallway. At the last moment he dodged the rain of kunai the trap set off, but it attracted the attention of the two who set it up.

They were two bulky looking Chunin. He hit four critical points each on their bodies, and they slumped and fell to the floor, the edges of their mouths already seeping blood. The other nin didn't notice.

He used the Byakugan again. There was a concealed lab up a little farther. He walked around another corner, _Right_, and punched through the wall. The hall behind it twisted. He scanned the shelves and removed a few files, working quickly, quietly, and above all efficiently. He didn't miss a single item to be confiscated or take anything that didn't matter. He paused for a moment when he saw a tall glass jar. It was dusty, but he could tell it was filled with preserving fluids. A dusty label that had been torn read "ya". He dusted off the cylinder to see what was inside, he could see the slightest form of an orb. As the white orb floated gently to face him, he dropped his hand in shock.

It was a Sharingan. That was impossible. Sasuke had deserted Konoha, but Orochimaru would hardly mutilate what he hoped would become his new host. Besides, it seemed as if it had been there for a long time.

Neji debated what to do with it. He should take it with him, but it was too ghastly. He reached out for it, then decided he would come back for it. He didn't want it to break. He would come back when he was done.

He walked into an adjoining room, took what he could, and left, going down the winding hall again. _Left_. He found the door to the hidden lab, wondering how anyone could ever live in a place like this and stay sane.

His hand paused before he opened the door. There was a familiar scent lingering in the air, a smell he knew undoubtedly, but that he couldn't place. It had been such a long time ago… he slid back the door.

The shadows merged and divided, but in the center of the gloom was a figure he knew well.

Wheet. Finally done. Thanks for taking time to read, I appreciate it. I'd like it even better if you'd review (smile).

Oh, and if any of you out there are really big fans of Neji, I would appreciate it if you were to look over my work before I post it and make sure Neji isn't OOC. I will love you forever and give you cookies.


	2. Chapter 2

Meh. It's me again. This is one of those chapters that's just gonna depress me and make me wonder how I can be so sadistic. Anyways, please try not to be too harsh if my description of the fighting sucks, and is extremely short. Dunno anything about it. Thanks for the reviews!

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 2 

He knew the figure- knew it from the very deepest part of him. It was a figure he had never counted on seeing again, even if other people thought his uncle looked exactly the same. They were completely different.

It was his father. God only knows what having to live with someone who not only, he had believed for the longest time, killed his father but had the same face had done to Neji. And he had the worst feeling creeping over him that this was no happy reunion. This was Kinjutsu.

"I'm sorry, Neji, but we must fight" His father said with the saddest look on his face. "I am not bound to this earth by myself anymore, but by someone else. And I am to protect this data"

"Father, I too am sorry" Neji said, managing somehow to keep his voice even. He assumed the main Jyuuken fighting stance.

His father smiled sadly and moved his body into the same position. Neji tried to tell himself that this was not his father, that this was his duty. But all he could think of, as the fight began and they shifted, striking at each other precisely and without mercy was…

Those arms that were now trying to kill him, they had once held him high as a child, shrieking with joy, into the unbearably bright sunlight.

Those hands that were now brimming with chakra aimed at his vitals had once rested on his head as his father told him that he was the greatest Hyuuga genius in a hundred years.

Those eyes that were now searching him for the smallest weakness had once smiled at him.

They dodged and wove around each other, striking. Neji swooped down, deliberately exposing himself. His father struck, but Neji jumped first, aimed a kick spiked with chakra at his father's chest, stopping the tenketsu around his heart. His father came to a stop.

"Truly, you are the greatest Hyuuga prodigy" he smiled, blood dribbling down his face. "I wonder, did you ever free yourself?"

And then his father, his idol, his shining light, crumbled away and he was left to look at a dead Oto shinobi.

Neji collapsed against the nearest bookshelf. It wasn't that Neji never cried, it was just that it never really occurred to him. Not since before he was marked. But he suddenly wanted to break down the meaningless façade he had always worn and start sobbing. It was his father who he had killed- never mind that he had already been dead. What kind of person was he?

But he didn't cry.

He got up, pretending quite well that his eyes weren't stinging. He started going through the bookshelf, pulling out folder after folder, and finding some truly disturbing things. Diagrams of the Byakugan, for one. Analysis of "Subject M", and subject M's progress with Jyuuken, for another. Scrolls and scrolls of forbidden techniques and alternate fighting styles to be used with the Byakugan. A map of the tenketsu. And a whole wall full of information on the Hyuuga family, including files with family members in it.

Neji's picture was in there, circled. There were pages and pages of information on him. He got shivers all down his spine. What exactly had they been planning…? He shook his head and collected all the files. He also found a few notes about the Sharingan, which he supposed was completely normal, since Sasuke had already deserted. Mostly about how it had come from the Sharingan was descended from the Byakugan, which he had already known.

He wanted out of there. He tried to force himself to be reasonable. It wasn't working. He would go back and get the eye, the horrible eye, and he would get out of there. Tsunade shouldn't have sent him in alone. He'd get out, go for back up, give them his findings.

He started back down the hall, reversing the directions. _Right_. He found his way out of the hidden hallway and went back to the dusty room. The light was dim, and as his eyes scanned the corners, he gradually became aware of a small figure in the middle of the room.

At first he thought she was, somehow, unexplainably, Hanabi. She looked eerily similar, long dark hair covering her right eye, her left pure white. She closed her eyes. She pulled her bangs out of the way. As she opened her right eye, he started. This was not Hanabi. Actually, now that he looked at her closely, he saw that she held herself differently, like an adult, and she was taller. Her hair was longer, and it was not board straight as Hanabi's was, but had slight careless waves.

Her other eye, though, the right one, it was crimson. She smiled. "Neji-ni-san" she said. "I've been watching you for a very long time" her voice was monotone.

_For decades now, Orochimaru had been considering what would happen if Uchiha and Hyuuga blood were to mix. He, eventually and regretfully, decided it was improbable, considering how carefully the Hyuuga guarded their precious bloodline. Nonetheless, it was an interesting idea, all things considered. He'd kept it in mind, for a time. He'd acquired a Hyuuga body from Hiding-in-Clouds, after all. He'd learned how to replicate Byakugan. The only side effect was the unfortunate one of blinding whoever received them- they'd figured that one out rather quickly, only five of his shinobi sacrificed. And what was five to the hundreds already? That's when he remembered his idea and tweaked it. What would happen to a Hyuuga who received a Sharingan? Or an Uchiha with a Byakugan- that was by far the better idea. After all, the Uchiha still had the bloodline behind the new and enticing crimson eyes, they were still, if distantly, of Hyuuga blood. And he already knew how to replicate the Byakugan. That was a much better idea. A talented Uchiha might tap their Hyuuga genes and be able to use both the Sharingan and the Byakugan. He'd have to ask a favor, but this was going to be an unusual experiment._

PH33R the foreshadowing. Remember to review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Hello! It's me again! Apparently Deidara has a very deep voice in the anime. I shed a tear in thanks… speaking of Deidara, one of my friends is going to A-kon (An anime convention) as Deidara, and I'm going as Sasori. And that, my friends, was a very roundabout way of getting to my main point: What happens when you get crazy ass ideas for fanfics at one in the morning:

Akatsuki does "Anastasia"! Ain't that just on crack? Pure, uncut, one-in-the-morning crack. And I'm talking about the cartoon movie. With the talking bat. With Sasori as Anastasia and Deidara as Dimitri and Orochimaru as Rasputin and Kabuto as Bartok. Oh, and, mainly cause it sounds so creepy to call him "baa-chan"… Itachi as the grandmother… yeah. Wow… now that I think about it… there aren't any girls in Akatsuki (Well, we really dunno about Deidara) are there? Oh well… Not gonna rant. Okay, people, R & R!

All the scrolls devoted to the Byakugan, "Subject M", and the history of the Uchiha clan were starting to make sense. It was impossible for one person to have one Sharingan and one Byakugan. Unless…

Unless one eye didn't belong to her. He thought of the floating eye and shuddered. She carefully tucked her hair behind her ears to reveal both eyes, Sharingan blazing, veins around the Byakugan popping.

He shifted into Jyuuken fighting stance and was amazed to see her assume the same stance. He extended his arm, and she parried his hit with the exact same sweep of the arm. He broke her parry and struck at her vitals. She twisted and dodged, simultaneously sweeping her feet, trying to trip him. As he moved, she tried to strike his vitals.

He dodged, but, noting that he was being pushed, decided to end it quickly. He caught her eye, and then said yelled "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!"

Impossibly, at the very same moment the words left his mouth, she said the exact same thing. Every single strike they made was synchronized, and every hit parried the other. As they struck the last blow, the force of their chakra threw both of them backwards.

The explosion turned off his Byakugan. As the dust cleared, he saw Subject M looking up. She had a mangekyo.

There was a flash of red, and then everything went black and white.

_Sitting at a table… smiles… sunshine… someone cooking breakfast… darker… nightfall… blood everywhere… "MAYA! GET D-!"… slice of a kunai on flesh… "You won't touch my child while I still live"… "Die, Onee-chan"… Blindness… it's better to forget… "Maya-hime"… "Have you seen your eyes?"… "Grow stronger, to serve him"… "Aki-kun!"… "Kill him. Obtain the mangekyo."… red leaves…_

The illusion fell away. Neji shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. As all the thoughts had flashed across his mind, he had simultaneously experienced his left eye being cut out. Subject M was no longer standing. She must have fainted after using the mangekyo. Things were starting to come together.

She must have been an experiment… he walked towards her. Part of him said that he had to kill her… but he remembered Tsunade's orders. He sighed and reluctantly dropped to both knees by her side.

Ino yawned. She'd been having bad dreams lately. She'd been out of it when she'd practiced with Chouji and Asuma and opted to skip the after-training barbeque. Something had been bugging her all day. She felt like things were about to change.

Her afternoon was free, but she didn't feel like doing anything. Currently, she was sitting on her couch, listlessly thumbing through a magazine. She reached for her cup of tea. As she blindly felt around for it on the table, she accidentally knocked it off.

"Crap!" she said, hastily running to the kitchen for a paper towel. She was out. Damn. She threw open her front door and banged on her neighbor's.

The door opened. "What is it, Ino-pig?" Sakura asked. They had been living next door to each other for a year now, ever since Sakura had declared herself, once and for all, an independent woman who was sick of her mother's nagging. Ino had just gotten a place of her own in a new apartment building, and the two ended up being neighbors.

"I'm out of paper towels. Do you have any?" she asked in a rushed voice. Sakura rolled her eyes and handed her a roll of paper towels.

"You owe me"

"Hai, hai. I know, big forehead girl!" Ino replied. They used their old nicknames for each other fondly and out of habit.

Ino cleaned up the spill. Sakura, who had followed Ino back to her apartment, was watching, amused. "Klutz"

"Shut up!" Ino said. She picked up the cup, which had broken neatly in half. As she did so, she cut her finger.

"That's a bad omen" Sakura said. Then she looked at the clock hanging over the sink. "Ne, don't you have a date with Shikamaru?"

Ino whipped around to look at the clock. "Oh f-" she ran into her bedroom, skidding as she turned a corner. She ripped off her normal clothes, put on a nice dress, and looked over her hair and makeup.

As she sped past Sakura and out the door she yelled "See-ya-lock-up-please!"

"Ino!"

Neji reached out to Subject M. He jerked his hand back. There was a puppy attached to it. It was currently biting his hand, and it hurt. He recognized it vaguely from a book on dog breeding that Hinata's teammate had left at the Hyuuga compound and he'd read on a rainy, mission-free day- a Shiba Inu. But he'd seen it somewhere else.

"I'm not trying to hurt her, stupid dog." He said roughly. It growled. He gently pried its jaws away from his hand, where an indented bloody half-circle remained. It growled again. He moved it off her chest and picked her up. The dog followed him, though still growling.

He went back to the room with the eye. He sighed and put it in his near-empty weapons pouch. With all this, it was going to take another hour to get back to Konoha.

The clouds that had been so beautiful that morning were now collapsing in upon themselves, pouring down upon Konoha. Ino was walking home through it, having forgotten her umbrella at the restaurant. She reached her apartment building, but couldn't bring herself to go inside. She stood in the deluge, shivering, because in it no one could tell that she was crying.

She must have stood there for half an hour before Sakura, newspaper held over her head, came up to her.

"Ino, you're soaked!" Sakura exclaimed. Then she noticed how red her best friend's eyes were. "What happened?"

Sakura guided her up the stairs into Ino's apartment. She got a hot bath running and gave Ino a towel.

"Jeez, you'll be lucky to get a cold. Good thing there was an emergency at the hospital, if I had been here I wouldn't have seen you."

Ino still wasn't talking. She got in the bath. She got out and put on her favorite blue bathrobe, the one that usually made her feel at peace with the world. It wasn't working. She drank the tea that Sakura handed her.

"Ino, what happened?" Sakura asked for the fiftieth time.

"Shikamaru broke off our engagement." Ino said blankly. Sakura looked shocked.

"Oh, Ino… I'm sorry…" Sakura immediately got out the stash of emergency chocolate. She handed a chocolate bar to Ino, who accepted it mutely.

"Heh… he knocked Temari up…" Ino added. Sakura handed her more chocolate. Ino shoved it in her mouth. Then she started crying.

"Ino… it'll be okay." Sakura tried to think of something to make her feel better and failed. The two friends sat in silence for a very long time.

He'd gotten out of the castle just in time to catch the rain. Perfect. The dog growled at him again. Just then he realized that he had seen this particular dog before- in the pictures. He adjusted Subject M's weight in his arms.

The dog followed him all the way back, growling and snapping at his heels. Through the rain. While Neji was carrying someone a third of his height and half his weight. In other words, Neji was not a happy ninja.

He got in about nine. There weren't many people out, and he made his way to the Hokage's office without incident. She was shifting through her enormous pile of paperwork, somewhat irritably. As he walked into her office, she took a long swig of sake.

"Mission successful, Hokage-sama." He said simply.

"Who is that, Neji?" She asked.

"An experiment, Godaime-sama" he replied. She rolled her eyes. "What happened to her? And what's with the dog?"

"She's an experiment, as I said. To see what would happen to someone with a Byakugan and a Sharingan. I believe the dog belongs to her"

"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled.

"Hai! Ma'am, have you seen Kotetsu and Izumo? I can't find them" Shizune sprinted into the room, making Neji wonder briefly how many times she'd injured her ankles because of her choice in footwear.

He took a look with his Byakugan "They're in the third floor closet. You shouldn't disturb them" Neji said, blushing slightly.

"That's beside the point. I'll take a look at the girl, Shizune, you take care of Neji." Tsunade said, relieving Neji of his burden. Shizune started on the dog bite. The damn puppy, little hellion that it was, immediately snuggled up to her.

"Exhaustion… dehydration… blindness in her left eye…" Tsunade murmured.

"She's blind in her Byakugan?" Neji asked. "But she can use it"

"She can probably only see out of it when it's activated. Her right eye has suffered some damage as well… I can fix that eye, but… I don't think I can do anything about her left eye." A green glow enveloped Tsunade's hand. "She should wake up sometime in the next few hours. We're going to the hospital. You can fill me in on the details of your mission there."

"Hai, Hokage-sama"

Ino was no longer as freaked out as she had been, and she had progressed to the anger that was quite a bit more like her. She was still depressed, but now she was angry on top of it. Sakura listened sympathetically as she started to rant.

"It was so agonizing! It was in the fanciest restaurant in town, which is now completely ruined for me! Damnit! Grr! I could just- agh!" Ino waved her spoon around and continued to dig into the chocolate ice cream Sakura had bullied Naruto into making a run to the store for (he lived around the block).

"Well, at least the lazy bastard is being mature for once and…" Ino stopped and her eyes brimmed over. "Damnit!"

The girl was asleep in a hospital bed and Tsunade was thumbing through the information. Neji, for one, was glad that the dog was tied up in the rain. Served it right.

"Nm… this is horrible…" Tsunade murmured. She took out a file and flipped through it. "Thought so…"

"Did you find something interesting?" Neji asked.

"Her name is Uchiha Maya. When the Uchihas were massacred, her body was never found. There was a body that was presumed to be hers, but it was unidentifiable. Later it was found that it was the body of a missing child from a town a few miles away. She was four years old. Her parents were Uchiha Taki, a lieutenant of the Konoha Keimu Butai and Uchiha Yumi, a former ANBU captain, who quit to raise her daughter. They were on the same team. I personally stitched up Taki after a nasty mission."

"Uchiha Yumi… that name sounds familiar…" Neji said.

"Yeah, guess you'd know about that, huh? Old enough. Yumi was a great Ninja. Strong, beautiful, a genius. She was conceived out of wedlock, but her parents married pretty early on. Funny, Fugaku had a thing for begetting prodigies." Tsunade shrugged. "Anyways, she got married at seventeen, and had Maya a few years later. But Yumi was famous for leading a mission that helped end the Kumo-Konoha war."

There was an uneasy silence as they both thought about Sasuke and how he had deserted the village.

"Sasuke was her uncle. Damn. He might have stayed if he knew there was another survivor." Tsunade whistled softly.

"Wait- she's his mei? His niece?" Neji asked, surprised.

"Well, yeah. I just said that didn't I?" Tsunade snapped.

"Konnichiwa, Godaime-sama, Neji" they turned to see Hiashi in walking towards them. He gave a polite bow.

"Well, hello Hiashi." Tsunade said, attempting at a pleasant voice. The Hyuugas got on her nerves.

"Is the girl in there?" Hiashi asked. Tsunade nodded curtly.

"Yes, but I don't see-" Tsunade started

Hiashi cut her off. "I have a request from the Hyuuga family." He handed her a scroll. She read it.

"Neji, please go in Maya's room. I need to discuss this privately." Tsunade told him, eyes narrowed.

He did as he was told and went to sit by the hospital bed. He could hear parts of the conversation through the sliding door.

"… citizen of Konoha! Absolutely unacceptable."

"…Orochimaru… can't trust her…"

"She was a child! She was abducted and experimented on!"

"… with all due respect… spy… you know how both of the other Uchiha survivors turned out… danger to the village"

"… Danger to the Hyuuga pride!… harmless… twelve years old"

"…insult the Hyuugas will not stand for! … others have killed at twelve before…"

Neji tried to ignore the conversation. He looked outside at the rain. It was still pouring. In the bed, Maya shifted. He saw the gleam of her eyes, one white and one inky black. She sat up.

"Where am I?" she asked, clearly panicked. "Neji-san? How did I get here?"

"You don't remember?" he asked. The girl was about to go into hysterics.

"I don't. How do I know you? I know your name, but I don't remember… all I remember clearly is blood…"

"Calm down. You're back in Konoha. In the hospital."

"What about Okaa-san and Otto-san! They were bleeding! They were hurt!" she said.

"Maya, please calm down. Try to remember. You were in Oto." Neji was at a loss of what to tell her.

She clutched her head. He looked guilty. "I remember… a little… why can't I see out of my left eye? This has all happened before…"

"Maya, it's okay. Just try to calm down and we'll figure everything out." He said.

"Where's Akeko?" she asked.

"Who?" Neji asked, a shiver running down his spine. The name meant "Bloody child"

"My dog. Akekonoha (red leaf)" Maya said.

"He's outside" Outside the door, voices were raised.

"NEEDS TO BE ELIMINATED!"

"I AM HOKAGE! I CAN DECIDE FOR MYSELF! IF I HAVE TO FIGHT AND DIE FOR THE VILLAGE, I WILL! I OWN UP FOR MY MISTAKES!" Tsunade was shouting.

"Very well, I will take my leave. Good evening." Footsteps grew fainter and the door slid open. Tsunade walked in.

"Well, that could have gone over better… Hello Maya-chan. Glad to see you're awake again." She smiled.

"Hokage-sama, for some reason, she doesn't remember past… past… the incident with Itachi" Neji whispered.

"It's a very common response to trauma." Tsunade whispered in reply. Then, more loudly, she said "Maya-chan, I'm going to do something so you remember things better, okay? Don't be afraid. It won't hurt" a green glow from Tsunade's hand bathed Maya's head in emerald light. Maya winced a little. "There, all better. You'll be fine after some rest." She turned to Neji. "Am I right in assuming Maya is in danger, because of the Hyuuga family's edict?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Neji said. People who the Hyuuga family wanted dead usually turned up that way sooner rather than later.

"Okay. Then here's what I want you to do"

Ino went to answer the door. She guessed that it was Sakura again, even though Ino had insisted her friend go home. She swung it open, already saying "Sakura, I don't need you I'm- oh…" Ino looked at Neji.

"What do you want?" she said rudely.

"May we come in? Please?" Neji said, his teeth already on edge. Damn but the woman was irritating.

"We?" Ino looked and saw Maya. "Whoa"

"We weren't followed. Can we come in now or not?" Neji snapped.

"Yeah. Come on in." Ino said, swinging the door wide open.

"Maya, say hello" Neji said, removing his shoes. Maya bowed.

"Hello. Thank you" she said, and took off her sandals. Akeko barked.

"Oh no. I'm sorry, I can't have pets in my apartment. It's part of the lease contract." Ino said, eying the puppy, who had jumped up on the couch and was burying its head in the cushions.

"Look, the Hokage assigned you a mission" Neji said, ignoring her anti-dog comments.

"Why me?" Ino asked.

"Because its well known that we hate each other on principle. We bicker on sight" he said. He pointed to Maya, who was standing by the door, eyes downcast. "The Hyuugas want her dead. The Hokage wants you to take care of her until she can figure out a safer place for her. No one can know about this. Not even Sakura. Maya's presence here must be completely undetected."

"Okay, here, why don't you sit down." Ino said. "Look, I'm horrible with kids, and… why? Why do they want her dead?"

Neji took a deep breath and started to explain. He told her about his mission, skipping over his fight with his father. Maya played with Akeko and tried to pretend that she wasn't hanging off every word.

"So that's it. Could you please take her in for a couple of days? She won't be any trouble. I can't make any promises for the dog. And the Hokage will provide you with money for her care." Neji finished. Ino sighed.

"Okay. Here, let me escort you to the door." Ino said. He nodded.

"Arigauto, Ino-san" He put his hand on Maya's head. "Be good, Maya-chan"

"Hai, Neji-san" Maya bowed to him.

As he was headed out the door, Neji asked Ino "Oh, how is your Fiancé?"

Ino looked angry, then sad. "We aren't engaged anymore. He broke it off."

"Sumisen, Ino-san. I didn't know" he said, before shutting the door behind him. Ino sighed, her feelings rising to the surface again.

"Okay, kiddo. I'm Ino. If you want to ask me anything, you can. Here, I bet you're hungry." Ino started digging through the fridge. She ended up giving Maya a bowl of leftover ice cream.

Maya ate it slowly. "Okay, I guess you can sleep in the guest bedroom. I'll go make it up for you" Ino smiled. "You can have anything in the fridge, but if it runs out, write it on the grocery list on the freezer. You can use the pink towels and bathrobe, and I'll loan you clothes if you need them. The bathroom is the second door on the left, and my bedroom is the first. Yours is the third. This is the kitchen and living room, and off the kitchen is the dining room. I think that's it"

Maya mumbled something. "What?"

"Why did you take me in? You don't even know me. I don't think Neji-san likes me either." Maya looked down.

"Maya-chan, that's just the way he is. Don't worry about it." Ino patted her on the head. Ah well, this could be a good thing. A distraction. But how she was supposed to keep Sakura from finding out… it made her head hurt to think about it. "And I don't mind having you"

"Arigauto" Maya ducked her head.

Ino smiled. "Here, knowing Mister-No–Manners, he probably let you get wet. You can take a hot bath, 'kay?"

"Hai, Ino-san" Maya replied.

End of chapter three! Yay for Kingdom Hearts 2. Not that I've actually gotten to even touch it. glares at sister.

R & R!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello once again. Author's notes are at the end. R & R!

Chapter 4 

Ino woke and rolled over. She started planning out her day. A peek out her window told her that anything outside was a definite no- it was still pouring, sheets of rain sweeping the streets. She didn't have any missions today, so maybe she and Shikamaru could-

She felt her stomach drop. Memory came rushing back. Right. Go make breakfast. There was something else she should remember too, r-

Maya. Ino hit her forehead with her palm. She put on her bath robe and went out into the front room. It seemed like Maya wasn't up yet. Ino mixed up some pancake batter and started to pour it onto the griddle. In the middle of the second batch, she went to the guest bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Maya? Do you want breakfast?" as she tapped on the door again, it swung open. She looked around.

Maya was gone, and so was her dog. "CRAP!" Ino threw the apron off from around her neck. She pulled on her shoes and ran out the door, forgetting her coat.

"Maya! Maya!" she yelled down the halls of her apartment building, and down the stairs. She wasn't there. Ino ran out the front door, out into the rain that was eroding the sidewalk. It hurt to walk in it. The heavy drops burst like miniature grenades on her bare arms. "MAYA!"

She looked up and saw another figure walking in the rain. Who else would be out on a day like this?

"Ino-san?" the figure asked. Oh.

"Neji! Maya's not in her room! Help me find her!" Ino said, not caring that he was sure to start yelling at her for not protecting Maya better. But he didn't. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"If it were the Hyuugas, I would know. She probably ran away. I'll check for her" he said. "Byakugan!"

The veins popped around his eyes. He concentrated briefly, and then he said "She's about forty meters ahead, running to the west. We can catch her."

"Hai" Ino nodded. They ran after her. As Ino sprinted ahead, but Neji reached out his hand to stop her "Turn right here" he said brusquely.

"Hai!" they ran.

"She's stopping" he said after what must have been forty blocks. "Here, it'll be quicker over the rooftops."

As they sped past buildings, Ino noticed that they were beginning to look unfamiliar. Suddenly, Neji put his hand out to stop her again. It was getting annoying. "Here, we should go through the gates." He said, leaping gracefully down.

"Oh f-" she said. They were at the gates that had previously been the entrance to the Uchiha section.

"Come on" he said, taking her by the arm and guiding her through the gates. They walked until they reached the center of the area. No one had really moved into the place, most people were creeped out by it. They saw Maya, crouched in front of something. Akeko was huddled against her, whining quietly.

"Maya-chan" Neji said softly. She stood up, but didn't walk over to them. Instead she walked over to what the other two realized was a memorial stone shaped like a fan. Maya's fingers delicately traced over the names inscribed on it.

"Uchiha Taki. Uchiha Yumi. Uchiha Maya" she whispered. "They thought I was dead…"

"Maya, you're soaked." Ino pleaded "Let's get home"

She turned to them. "I remember now. Everything. My parents… they were killed by my uncle. I was taken to Oto. I had my eye… they took it from me, blinded me. And I killed my best friend." She said blankly. "I'm sorry. You got wet" she added.

"Maya-" Ino trailed off.

"It does no good to pour salt on the wounds. You can't dwell on the past." Neji said. She looked up at him.

"Alright, seriously, we're all gonna come down with colds. Let's go back to my house- oh!" she yelled suddenly "Oh f-" Neji shot her a look. She quickly adjusted herself "Oh crap! I left pancakes on the griddle!"

Neji gave her a disgusted look. "Sorry! I was worried about Maya! Let's go" Ino said. They ran back to her apartment, entering through her balcony.

What struck them as odd was that there was no black smoke billowing from the stove, nor, indeed, any sign at all of burning pancakes.

"Boo!"

Ino squeaked very loudly, managing at the very last second to quiet her scream. Neji was composed, but Maya had tensed up. She seemed to be halfway into reaching for a kunai before she had realized that she didn't have a weapons pouch.

"You know, Ino-chan, it'd be wise of you to lock out when you leave your house." Ino relaxed. She knew that voice. Now that she was calm, she recognized the first as well.

"Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! What are you two doing here?" she asked, turning around. Iruka looked vaguely guilty. Kakashi was nonchalant as usual.

"The Hokage sent us. She wants Maya registered as a Konoha shinobi, it'll be harder for the Hyuugas to get her" Iruka explained.

"And I" Kakashi added "Am here bearing gifts of clothes. Plus, she's Konoha's last Uchiha. She needs to display it. I need help with the embroidery"

"Okay." Ino said. "So you stopped the pancakes from burning?"

"Yeah, you went right past us" Kakashi said. "The pancakes were delicious"

"Here, I almost forgot." Neji rustled around in his robes and brought out a package wrapped in plastic. "This is for Maya to wear. Can I use your shower?"

"Hai" Ino replied, unwrapping it. She held up Neji's old jacket. "You're giving her your old clothes? She's a girl!"

"Ano… it's okay…" Maya said. "I remember you wearing these. I learned Jyuuken by copying you." She fidgeted.

The file on him now made sense. He smirked. "I'll go take a shower now"

Ino stuck her tongue out at him as he left the room. Without even turning around, he said "That isn't very ladylike of you, Ino-san".

When he was in the bathroom she said "Dang. I forgot how annoying that was." She looked at Maya, who was dripping slightly. Smiling, she added "Here, let's get you dried off."

Neji walked out of the shower, dressed in extra clothes that Ino had laid out for him. As he walked into the room, he felt something pounce and land on his back.

"Neji-ni-chan! I'm your Bushin!" Maya shouted. She was dressed in his clothes and looked like Neji in miniature.

"Why do I have the feeling that this is your fault?" He asked Ino. She shrugged, turning back to the embroidery in her lap.

"Actually, it's part of the graduation test" Iruka smiled apologetically. "Okay, Maya, now the last part is the Bushin. You have to make three clones." He told her. Maya jumped down from Neji's back. She signed rapidly and the room filled with clones.

"Overkill, Maya-chan" Kakashi said wisely, sewing the Uchiha emblem on the back of a shirt.

"Good job. Here's your forehead protector." Iruka handed one to Maya.

"Where are you gonna wear it, Maya-chan? On your waist, or around your neck, or-" Ino grinned.

"Or on her forehead, as implied by the term '_forehead_ protector'?" Neji added in a scathing voice.

"No way. You should wear it like me, Maya-chan" Kakashi pointed to the covered up eye.

"Should I wear a mask, too?" Maya asked.

"Hai. It'd look so cute" Kakashi was clearly beaming underneath his mask.

"I don't think so. What's under yours?" Maya asked.

"Another mask!" Kakashi replied cheerfully.

"BYAKUGAN!" Maya yelled.

"Now that really isn't fair" Kakashi said, trying to hide behind the couch. Maya turned off her Byakugan and blushed. She tied her forehead protector around her forehead.

"Too late for that" Maya said. Her cheeks were still quite red.

"Heh. Already at that age M- OW!" Ino looked at where she'd stuck herself with the needle. A dribble of blood was running down it.

"Here, let me look at it." Neji said. Now that she thought about it, he was really, really, and I mean REALLY, sexy with his hair down. He leaned towards her and put her finger in his mouth. She felt her cheeks flush.

Like that would ever happen. She shook her head, trying to clear the fantasy away. Neji was examining her finger.

"How can a girl be so clumsy?" he asked. This time, her cheeks went red from anger.

"I don't see you sewing!" she replied. He handed her a band-aid.

"Here." He looked away.

Maya was watching them, interested. "Kakashi-oji-chan-"

"Hey, now. How 'bout 'sensei' instead of 'oji', alright?" he said.

"Kakashi-_sensei_" Maya with emphasis. "What's with them?"

"Aha… well, you see, Maya, I'm not here to explain the birds and the bees to you" Kakashi ruffled her hair.

"Don't treat me like a kid!" she said. They started arguing. Ino and Neji, who had both picked up on the conversation, were turning red.

Well, Ino was. Neji was too cool to blush, but there was a certain amount of pink in his cheeks.

"Alright, I think I'm late for a mission. We have to go" Iruka cut into Maya and Kakashi's fight.

"Well, bye then. Be good, Maya" Kakashi patted her on the head.

"I said, stop treating me like a kid! I'm a Konoha shinobi now!" she pointed with her thumb to her forehead.

"Righto" Kakashi saluted. "See you, Ino, Neji" he nodded to both of them in turn.

"Bye!"

Ino picked up another shirt and started on the Uchiha logo. This one was dark blue and looked a lot like the one Sasuke had worn. She pulled her needle through the first stitch.

Maya looked bored now that she wasn't able to argue with anyone. She turned on her Byakugan and started to look at people in other rooms. That proved entertaining for about five minutes before she'd seen everything to see in the building. She moved her sight out of the building. "Neji-ni-chan, what are Iruka-sensei and Kakashi–sensei doing in the alley?"

Neji breathed in deeply, not letting a single thought reach his face. And then he said "They're doing their taxes. Now help Ino with the sewing- I have to go."

_Uchiha Maya was four years old, with long black hair and dreamy black eyes. Her mother, ANBU squad leader turned housewife, was standing at the kitchen sink overlooked by a sunny window, washing dishes. Her father, a lieutenant in the Konoha Keimu Butai, was still sleeping. _

_Maya was currently engaged in eating breakfast "Okaa-san, is Sasuke-kun going to come play today?" she asked._

_"I already told you, sweetie. Sasuke-kun came by this morning while you were sleeping and said hello. He has shrunken training today." Her mother finished drying her dish and put it away._

_Maya's father came in, whistling. He walked over to her mother, picked her up, and swung her around and kissed her on the forehead. She laughed and kissed him. Maya nibbled at her cinnamon roll and watched._

_"How's my big girl today?" he asked Maya as he sat down._

_"Is Otto-san staying home to play with Maya today?" he ruffled her hair._

_"Yep. I have the day off today. As soon as I help Okaa-san with the dishes, we'll… well, what'll we do?"_

_"Play ninja!"_

_"Oh? Are you going to grow up and be a strong, gorgeous and genius Kunoichi?"_

_"Hai!" Maya squealed excitedly._

_"Like your Okaa-san?" he asked her._

_"Taki! Don't tell her _that_ story again!" Her mother laughed and threw her dishcloth at him._

_"Aw, Yumi!" he threw a mock pleading look in her direction. Then he whispered to Maya "Well, your mother was the most beautiful girl in class. I remember that when we got assigned to the same team, I was so happy. I found her and told her I'd marry her. She laughed at that, but a few years later, when our team was on a mission, when we were both Jonin, I nearly got killed. I woke up in the hospital and she was bringing me flowers. We got married the next month."_

_Maya giggled. Her father kissed her on the forehead and she put her plate in the sink._

_That night, it seemed hardly believable that the kitchen had ever been so bright and cheerful._

Whoot! Done! I'm very impressed by how many people have reviewed and left smart comments and questions (maybe if I wrote more serious stuff…), so thanks to all reviewers! And don't worry, the story is going to evolve and not be so Maya-centric. I've actually prewritten everything that's gonna happen, and decided that there's going to be a sequel, and that this story may very well branch out into a trilogy.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading- oh, and if you get the time, please look up NinjaG33k and read his essay on the importance of triplicate in Naruto. He was one of my first reviewers on The Fox's Wedding, which is a HinaNaru I wrote (Yes, I plan on dragging that pairing in for a chapter, and, in fact, I got the idea for "Taxes" from a HinaNaru of the same name).

Thanks so much! And if you have an ideas, comments or questions, please include them in your review (but sign in please- I like to be able to reply to questions) and I promise I'll reply to them, even if I don't use the idea. Oh, also, I am still looking for a beta! Please send me a PM if you are interested! I'm okay on my own, but I'd appreciate having someone who can be objective and talk over my ideas. Thank you very much!


	5. Chapter 5

need a beta. If you're interested, please contact me somehow. I know people read this, I had 75 hits for the fourth chapter. If you don't have a penname you can email me. But I really really really need a beta. Thanks so much! Review please!

Chapter 5 

_Maya didn't understand how a day could change a familiar place so much. Then again, she didn't understand much of what was going on._

_"MAYA! GET D-!" her father's voice was cut short. The red light behind his Sharingan was extinguished, and a coppery scent filled the air._

_"Otto-san!"_

_"Itachi! Why-?" her mother asked helplessly._

_"Because I can, Onee-chan" Maya heard the kunai slice her mother's flesh. Itachi looked faintly disgusted and stepped foreword._

_"Come to your Oji-san"_

Maya woke up with a start. She looked around, taking deep breaths. She silently slipped out of bed and climbed out of the window onto the roof. It was a beautiful day, and she was tired of being cooped up. Ino-Nee-chan was nice, but there was only so much you could do inside, and if she got shoved in another closet because Sakura was coming over again she'd scream.

Meanwhile, Ino was sleeping peacefully. Maya had been perfectly behaved and well mannered since she ran off. She seemed to like reading a lot, so Ino was going to swing by the library. She'd had a ton of free time, since Tsunade wasn't assigning her missions because caring for Maya _was_ a mission. And the kid lived on convenience store food. It was easily one of the simplest missions she'd had. Except for the dog.

She got up, showered, fixed her hair. She picked up her dirty clothes- today would have to be a laundry day. It had finally stopped raining, after four days of downpours. The ground had dried out yesterday, and kids were out playing again. A couple were kicking around a soccer ball, and she could see a group playing ninja.

"Udon! Moegi!" a boy called. Ino watched them, smiling.

Maya was watching them as well. She quickly cast a genjutsu over her eyes, making them both green, in case she was spotted, but the group moved away and ran towards a blonde teenager a few blocks away.

"Naruto-Ni-chan! Boss!"

"Oi! I'm on a mission! Buzz off." He said, though he was clearly enjoying the attention.

"NO! I challenge you to a battle! You promised we'd fight!" Konohamaru yelled. Naruto shook his head.

"No, I'm serious, I'm gonna be late!" he said, looking at his watch.

"What kind of mission?"

"A B-ranked one. Um, gotta go catch a cat… or something!"

"Liar! You're probably on a date!"

"No way!" Naruto shouted "Now get out of my way!"

Maya stopped listening and lay back. Today was a good day for cloud watching. The air was clean because of all the rain. She breathed in.

"What are you doing out here?" Maya turned around.

"Neji-Oni-chan? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"You first" he said. She sighed and blew her hair out of her face.

"I was cooped up in there. I wanted to get out" she admitted.

"I," he said "Am following my cousin. She has a date." He shook out his hair. "Just make sure no one sees you, alright?"

"Hai!"

He nodded and started leaping across rooftops again as Naruto saw Hinata come around a corner. They started walking and talking quite happily as Neji followed from a distance.

Meanwhile, Ino had discovered that Maya was not in her apartment. "Oh GODS! Not again!" she yelled, searching the closet on the off chance that Maya had, for whatever reason, decided that the closet would be a good place to be.

"What not again?" Sakura asked. She was standing in the door way, with a faintly bemused expression.

"Ano…" thinking fast, Ino said quickly "Oh, I lost my good top. Darn! Not again!"

"Well, it's on the couch…" Sakura pointed out.

"Oh! I'll lose my own head next!" Ino laughed nervously.

"Is something up?" Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to come to that new café, but…"

"I'd love to go! I'm sorry, it's just that I've been thinking about a recent mission" Ino said, hoping to distract her friend.

Sakura could tell that something was up, but she let it slide. For now. "Okay, let's go" she motioned at the door.

"Maya, you better be safe" Ino whispered.

"Nani?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, I just was saying 'I think I'll get cake'. That's all!"

Further narrowing of the eyes. "Okay, come on. We don't have all day. I have a mission" Sakura said.

They walked out the door, Sakura throwing dirty looks at Ino, and Ino silently praying that Maya was somewhere safe. And that the stupid dog wouldn't make any noise.

Maya, meanwhile, had fallen asleep in the sun. She had been trained to sleep very lightly and to fall asleep quickly- a useful skill. It saved her more than once. But her dreams of autumn leaves were disturbed by a prickly feeling that told her she was being watched. She woke up, but kept her eyes closed until she cast a genjutsu over them and the symbol on the back of her shirt.

She opened her now-green eyes to see three kids (even though she was younger than them, she thought of them as children) looking at her.

"Ne, what are you doing up here?" Konohamaru asked.

"Well, I _was_ taking a nap" she replied, scrutinizing them. They didn't look dangerous, but looks could deceive. Easily.

"Are you one of the new graduates?" Udon asked.

"Hai. My name is Akiko. I was recovering from an injury when my team was assigned a new mission. I got left behind" Maya lied deftly.

"Well, why don't you practice with us? You can get a lot of training done to impress your team. Plus, you'll even us out. We can spar."

"Ano… alright" Maya smiled. She'd missed training. She hadn't practiced with anyone since… since…

"Akiko? Are you okay?" Moegi asked, dropping the honorific.

Startled, Maya nodded. "Gomen. So where did you say we could spar?"

Fifteen minutes later they were on an empty training ground. Maya was vaguely disappointed- she was having to hold back. Moegi was good, but nowhere near Maya's level- which, after copying Neji's Jyuuken for eight years, was at least Chunin rank.

"Heh. You're pretty good!" Moegi admitted. "Are you going to try out for the Chunin exams?"

"I'm not sure yet" Maya shrugged.

"You should" Moegi smiled widely.

Konohamaru and Udon were also practicing a few yards away. They weren't bad either. Maya let her mind wander briefly. That's when she tripped and fell.

It wasn't a bad fall, but it left her with a coppery taste in her mouth and clouded her head. She got up, dazed, and continued the fight. She didn't realize that she wasn't holding back, or that there was suddenly a scared expression on Moegi's face. She forgot that she wasn't supposed to use weapons. She forgot about keeping a low profile.

She found that the color reminded her of autumn leaves.

"You know, you really should lock your door, Ino-san" Neji said. She dropped the bag she had been carrying.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked by way of greeting.

"My cousin" he said "has a date. They stopped in a restaurant a few blocks from here. I am simply observing them"

"Oh no you don't. Don't you DARE try to break up Hinata and Naruto. Not after all that work I did. Kiba still won't look at me!" Ino said in a raised voice.

"It was you who got them together?" he asked in a cold voice.

"Well, I had some help" she admitted.

"I respect Uzumaki. I simply… don't trust him around my cousin." He said. Ino gave him a look.

"He may be a complete and total idiot, but he has a good heart. He hasn't picked up any of Jiraiya's habits" she said.

He gave her a stony glare in reply. Then, after a long, long silence he said in a quiet voice "I suppose you're right."

Ino's face broke into an expression of glee. "Dear gods, I might make the news"

"What?" he snapped.

"I had Hyuuga Neji, the greatest Hyuuga genius in a hundred years, admit that I was right and he was wrong"

"Oh, come on, I'm just kidding" she said. "Gomen" she paused and then said "Oh, by the way, have you seen Maya? She vanished again"

"I saw her two hours ago on the roof. I'll check again." He said, turning on his Byakugan.

"She's on the roof, as I suspected." Then he frowned. "Something's wrong. She's crying"

Ino heard this and, without saying a word, went to Maya's room and climbed out the window onto the roof. She ran to where Maya was huddled up, her long hair covering her face.

"Maya, what's wrong?" she asked. She hugged her and rocked back and forth softly until Maya answered.

Maya sniffed, and when she looked up Ino saw that her eyes were red. "I- I w-was sparring w-with some k-kids, a-and I was t-too strong. I t-think I huh-hurt h-her. I d-didn't s-stay t-to check. I l-left. I thou-thought she would be stronger. I'm s-sorry" she sobbed.

"Maya…" Ino whispered. "Did she need to go to the hospital?"

"I… I dunno" she sniffed. "I don't think so. She wasn't bleeding too bad. I think she's okay. I just… I lost control. She was so scared…" she trailed off.

"Here, c'mon inside." Ino said. "I'm sure she's fine." Maya noticed the assurance in her voice and allowed herself to be led inside.

"You" Ino said, back in her living room. "Why didn't you come with me?" she asked Neji.

"It was a girl thing" he said dismissively. "I thought you could handle it" she glared at him.

"Don't be-" he shot her a vehement look, glancing over at Maya. She quickly amended "Don't be a jerk. Just for that…" Ino paused. A tiny smile played around the edges of her lips. "Fine. Well, see, it's just that I made a reservation a week from tomorrow. At Ringo. Six o' clock. I was going to ask you to dinner. But now, you might as well not show up"

She thought she saw a hint of a genuine smile cross his mouth, and then it turned into a smirk. "I'll be sure not to show up here at five forty five" he said.

"Fine" she grinned.

"Fine" he smirked. "So I won't see you next week"

"Nope" she replied.

"I think I'll take my leave, then." Neji said, standing up.

"Right. Ja'ne!" she smiled. He walked through the door. Maya looked puzzled. She watched Neji exit with a confused expression.

"Ino-Nee-chan, what just happened?" she asked.

"I-" Ino said, shutting the door "I- against my better judgment, I might add- am going to Ringo next week with Neji" Maya looked even more confused.

"But he said- you said- I…" she stopped.

"You'll understand." Ino ruffled Maya's hair. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Here, Maya, you know what I think?"

"Nani, Onee-chan?"

"I think you need a new hairstyle" Ino looked serious.

"Why? What does that have to do with anything?" Maya replied.

"You've been sad ever since you returned to Konoha. Sometimes looking good on the outside can make you feel better on the inside. If your image changes, you can get a new self-image and a boost of self-esteem."

"Ano… okay…" Maya nodded, shaking her hair out of her eyes.

Ten minutes later Maya had bangs and the front of her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, leaving the rest hanging free. She also had short side locks that she was tugging at. For a moment, looking at her right side, Ino thought it was like seeing Sasuke again. Then Maya turned and her Byakugan came into view.

"Ino-Onee-chan, I love it. Arigauto." She smiled. It was the first real, happy smile that Ino had seen.

"It's really working, see?" Ino pointed to Maya's smiling reflection, which did not falter.

That night, after a quick chat with Sakura, Ino was able to flop down on Maya's bed and say "Good news. Moegi is fine. She didn't even have to stay overnight. They fixed her up pretty quick. No damage done"

Maya looked away. "I'm glad. Thank you for telling me"

Ino tucked her in, and in Maya's dreams that night, at least, it was not autumn.

_"Come to your Oji-san"_

_Maya shook her head and backed away. Itachi took another step forward._

_"You- you won't touch my child. Not while I still live" Yumi had grabbed onto his ankle with one hand, stopping his movement, Sharingan flaring. The other hand held her stomach together._

_Itachi didn't even look at her as he kicked her across the room. Blood spattered across the walls, and Maya's face, glistening sickly._

_"Die, Onee-chan"_

_Maya closed her eyes, willing someone, anyone, to do something._

_When she opened her eyes, everything was different._

Whoot! Chapter five done! Next chapter should be the half-way mark if all goes according to plan… speaking of which, I had a ton of people's ages wrong. Please try to overlook that ().

And the restaurant was originally called Koi, but if there's a restaurant in a fanfiction, that's usually it's name. Ringo means apple, by the way. It was really weird. My sister pointed out to me that I should change the name, and so I asked her what to call it. She was eating an apple, and I looked at it and thought "huh. Maybe it should be called Ringo" and then my sister said "Ringo." I was just one of those odd things. I'm not sure who would name a restaurant "Apple" but who cares.

Thanks so much for all the reviews! You make my day so happy. I love checking my email to find a review. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

Hello, people! Good news! I have a wonderful new beta, Kyiri! I'm really happy about having her. Anyways, Sai tried to screw up this chapter, but ultimately, I WIN! Take that! Anyways, Please R & R!

_**Chapter 6**_

_Maya closed her eyes, willing someone, anyone, to do something. _

_When she opened her eyes again, everything was different. She could see great swirls surrounding Itachi. She could see how he was going to move. She also saw a shadow in the corner, radiating chakra. _

_"What potential this one has. Sharingan at that age." Maya saw the chakra writhe and coil. The shadow looked up and she saw a cobra glare._

_"So do you want her or not?" Itachi asked._

_"I'll take her. She'll be a fine experiment."_

_She saw the snakelike glare again, and then there was darkness._

"You're to return to the base, Neji, and that is final" Tsunade said in a raised but firm voice.

"But Maya-"

"Maya" Tsunade said, ice dripping from every syllable "Is no longer your responsibility, but Ino's. You're to return to the base"

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Neji bowed stiffly. He paused by the door on his way out. "Oh, Godaime-sama. The eye… can it…?" he trailed off.

Tsunade looked up sharply. "No. It cannot be replaced. It hasn't been preserved well enough. Even I can't do anything" she went back to her paperwork.

"Hai"

And that's how he found himself back in the fort. Back in the darkness and the dust and the madness. It was too valuable a resource to be wasted, that he understood. What he didn't understand was why he was the one to go back. Oh yes, he reflected bitterly. He'd already been there.

Really, he remarked sardonically to himself, it was such a lovely place. It was a wonder more people didn't come here. He smirked to himself. Left, Right, Left, Left again, Right. Begin the dance again.

_"Here, Maya-chan. Watch this!" Sasuke told his niece. She watched in awe as he formed the hand signs and shouted "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!". She clapped and squealed as the water was illuminated._

_"Teach me, Oji-chan! Teach me!" she demanded with all the innocent severity of a four-year-old. _

_"Not yet" he said "You have to be older"_

_"I hate when people tell me that. I really do! I don't want to wait!" she stomped her foot. "I have to wait to go to the academy, and I have to wait to be old enough to practice with shuriken and now this!" she glowered._

_"It's not that. You have to have big enough chakra capacity." He explained. She continued to glare briefly, but relented in the face of logic._

_"Well, it still isn't fair." She pouted. He laughed and ruffled her hair, unthinkingly treating her the way that he hated people to treat him - as a kid._

Sasuke woke up, head pounding. He hadn't dreamed about his niece for years. Not since they found the body that wasn't her. He tried to think clearly, but his head was hopelessly filled with fuzz. What had woken him?

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, SHE'S GONE! YOU LET THE MANGEKYO SLIP THROUGH OUR HANDS! SHE WAS INFINITELY MORE USEFUL THAN YOU!" Oh. That's why he was awake. Yelling first thing in the morning- afternoon, he amended. He'd been recovering from a mission. But what the hell was Orochimaru talking- yelling- about?

Sasuke wandered out of his room, seeking a place to get away from the yelling. He stopped at Kabuto's door and looked inside. God, it was so pathetic. He was reduced to snooping around that silver haired rat-bastard's room. He looked around and saw a file lying on the table and picked it up. It was labeled "Yume no Momiji". It seemed to be about the last of a clan that was based on genjutsu.

Sasuke started to read. He stopped when he came to the team he had been assigned. It was odd. The boy, the last carrier of the bloodline limit, had been placed on a two man team. He turned the page, and like a butterfly, a picture fluttered out of it. He stopped. He knew that face, but it had been so long. And then he realized who it was. He slammed the file on the table. He looked away, and then he looked back at it, where the picture and the piece of paper that was clipped to it lay. The girl's eyes stared at him accusingly. He avoided her gaze, absurd, he knew. But being paranoid was a perfectly rational adjustment to living with Orochimaru. He picked up the sheet of paper and read it:

"_Subject M" Uchiha Maya_

_D.O.B. - July 27_

_Height- 136 cm_

_Weight- 35 kg_

_Hair: Black_

_Eyes: Byk, Shrngn_

_Jutsu: Mastery of Jyuuken_

_Fire style expertise_

_Byakugan_

_Sharingan_

_Mangekyo_

_Mizu bushin_

_Continued next page_

_Blood type: AB_

_Notes: Age four- subject received Byakugan by surgery. Attempt caused blindness in left eye. Is able to use Byakugan._

_Fights with an Inugami. Team disbanded after death of teammate. Adept at using genjutsu. Able with weapons. Gained use of Mangekyo after death of teammate. Acquired Inugami after death of same teammate. (See traits of Yume no Momiji) _

_Ordered to protect the base at the outskirts of Rice country._

Sasuke found himself shaking with rage as he read. They had his niece, the only member of his family who hadn't been killed _right under his nose_ and they never told him. They never told him. _They never told him_.

Maybe, he thought, maybe the reason is simply that they didn't want me to find out that they experimented on her, cut out her eye and blinded her. That they already had a Mangekyo because her teammate died. At her hand.

Orochimaru was even angrier that evening. Everyone in the room, besides Kabuto, had experienced a slow, agonizing death. Losing Maya had only merited killing the messenger, after reducing him to a blubbering heap, in what was a fairly quick and, for all he knew, painless method.

Neji suddenly got a very bad feeling. Which was ridiculous, he might have told anyone, had they been there. He'd dealt with more enemies than he could count. He was obviously not in any real trouble. But he had an a creeping feeling settling in his stomach. Something's coming, he thought to himself. But he dismissed it. Now was not the time to be superstitious.

Sasuke found the base after searching for hours. Muscles aching and sweat dripping, he took a breath and entered. The place was falling apart. He grinned to himself. Time to see if there was anyone still alive in the rat hole.

He found a Chunin fairly quickly. After less than a minute of fighting, Sasuke was holding the Chunin by the throat.

"Uchiha Maya" he said. "Where. Is. She?" he asked with deadly intensity.

"I… I don't- AGHH!" the man screamed and writhed as Sasuke broke his arm and jammed the broken pieces together.

"Talk" he said simply.

"They told us she was dead! She died! She fought a Konoha ninja and he killed her" the man sputtered.

Sasuke's eyes went red. He hadn't even bothered to use the Sharingan against the dolt before then. But now he needed to suffer.

The man was dead thirty seconds later. His eyes were wide in pain. Sasuke stared in disgust and anger. Dead. Dead. Dead, dead, dead. Rage blinded him. To have been so close, and have hope ripped away from him. It infuriated him, it fed all the anger he had been saving for years. To have been so close, only to have her killed by someone from his own town.

He let his breath out. Not much had changed, really, he reasoned. This- Orochimaru, Maya- had all been a detour. He still had the same goal. It was still possible. All he'd lost was foolish hope.

But before he left, he would destroy the place that had claimed her life. And one day, he would have his revenge. He would avenge Maya.

_She would like to say that the darkness lifted. But it didn't. Not in her left eye. She whimpered._

_"Transfer successful. The operation went perfectly. She should be able, in theory, to use the Byakugan. When not in use, her left eye will be blind. Also, since she only has the one Byakugan, she could lose some of the three hundred sixty degree visibility."_

_"Very well, Kabuto"_

_Maya whimpered again. This time they heard her._

_"Well, well, the princess is awake."_

_"Hello, Maya-hime. Good morning. You've been out for quite a while, Maya-chan"_

_"Okaa-san" Maya whispered._

_"Maya-hime, I'm Kabuto. I'll take care of you from now on, okay?"_

_At this moment, Maya was desperate enough to accept any kindness. "Kabuto-san?" she asked._

_"That's right. And I'm Orochimaru" he said, tracing her cheek with his forefinger._

_"Orochimaru-san" she replied._

_"Orochimaru-sama" Kabuto corrected._

_"Orochimaru-sama" she said. And then she started to cry, suddenly, without knowing why. Where the tears hit her hand, they left bloody streaks._

_The blood reminded her of the blood in the kitchen- on the walls, the floor… her face…. And she decided coldly that if she was going to be half blind to the world, she may as well forget._

_There had been a time when she was younger where she was badly burned. She had moaned, delirious with pain, as her mother rushed her to the hospital. It was a terrible kind of pain, pain no child should have to bear. And she had found, upon recovery, that she remembered nothing of her ordeal. She didn't remember the agony. She learned that she had the blessing, or the curse, of being able to erase her own memories. She could do it by pure force of will. And that's what she did then. She decided to forget._

_Kabuto said "Maya-hime, try not to cry. I know it's hard, but you'll get a headache. It's the surgery that makes your eyes tear up. Here, drink this" and he handed her a cup. She drank obediently. Darkness closed over her again. _

Hey people. What did you think? Like it, hate it, suggestions? Anyways, please review. Thanks once again to Kyiri, my wonderful new beta! Anyways, this is the middle chapter. We're halfway done! Thanks for your support.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello! Thanks to all reviewers and readers! R&R!

_**Chapter 7**_

It was time to get out of there, Neji decided. Definitely. It sounded as if the base was falling down. He checked and saw that, in fact, the base was being destroyed. He couldn't tell by who, it was too far away, but he saw rooms collapse on their unlucky occupants. He kept his Byakugan on as he tried to find a way out.

He made his way into fresh air and sunshine and turned to see the ground covering the base heave and crack. The earth swallowed up trees and soil to fill the gorge. Well, now the base was use to no one. It had probably been caused by some poor pawn who died covering up his master's secrets.

He hadn't gathered much information, but he had some, and that was something, at least. He doubted that the Hokage would agree. Oh well. He had better get back.

Sasuke looked triumphantly at the mound marking where Orochimaru had once destroyed innocent lives. He felt a fleeting sense of pity for those trapped inside, which he quickly crushed. No one, he felt, could have escaped that, and there were worse ways to die. And then something made him look up.

There was someone who had gotten out. He frowned. That was no good. Moving through the trees around the fresh chaos of the former base. As he got close enough to see, his eyes narrowed. He knew him. He was older and taller and dressed differently, but it was definitely Neji. There was no doubt. What was he doing here?

Neji looked over and saw him as well. Sasuke stepped out of the trees- no point in trying to hide. Cautiously, he asked him, "What are you doing here? How did you get out?"

Neji eyed him suspiciously. "Sasuke-san," he said. He was calculating rapidly inside his head. He didn't know how strong he was. If he had destroyed the base, it was most likely that he was still with Orochimaru. His common sense told him to try to get away without resorting to combat. "I was finishing a mission" he said simply.

Sasuke put two and two together and came up with the wrong answer. His Sharingan flared up. There was no exchange of words needed. Neji activated his Byakugan and shifted into Jyuuken stance.

Sasuke rushed at him. Neji dodged and realized a second too late that Sasuke had been trying to get behind him. There was just enough time for him to shield himself with Chakra to keep his spine from snapping as Sasuke brought his hand on the small of his back with enough force to knock him across the clearing.

Neji was able to keep his balance, but just barely. He whipped around and managed to catch Sasuke under the arm and seal up three chakra holes. Sasuke flinched, almost imperceptibly, and knocked Neji's hand away. Neji ducked and moved out of the way as Sasuke called out "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

There was a charred smell, and Neji found himself extremely grateful that he had managed to get out of the way in time. And then he realized he hadn't- his leg was burnt. Sasuke came at him again. They exchanged blows, nothing too damaging, all though Neji managed to seal up more Chakra holes than Sasuke could easily deal with.

They had been fighting for a while now- the light was fading. It had to end soon. Neji saw Sasuke start on the hand signs for the Chidori. There was a chance that just might work…

The electricity around Sasuke's hand popped and crackled. He licked his lips. He stepped forward, and then ran. Neji managed to deflect the blow slightly, but it grazed his arm and exploded over his shoulder. The pain made him nearly black out, but he sealed Sasuke's vital chakra nodes and delivered a couple of painful chakra-spiked blows.

They both moved away from each other, each wincing a little. Neji took the opportunity to leave. He got a few kilometers away before he examined his wounds. The burn wasn't bad- a smear of Hinata's ointment (which he had nearly refused that morning, only taking it because Hinata insisted) and it was nearly as good as new. The chakra burn from Chidori had taken out a chunk from his shoulder. It was bleeding pretty badly. He bandaged it as best he could. Then he looked at the sky. At least it wasn't raining this time.

_Maya woke up in a warm bed, in clean clothes and with a clean memory. There was still darkness in her left eye. _

_"I… I don't… remember" she said._

_"Ne! Maya-hime!" a voice called. She looked up. A boy, a few years older than she, waved from the window. He had long red hair and delicate features. "Hi! I'm Akiko" he said._

_Maya got up and walked to the window. "Akiko is a girl's name." He grinned._

_"My Okaa-san wanted a girl. My Nee-san died before I was born and my Okaa-san wanted another girl. But she got me, so she named me Akiko."_

_"Oh. Okay. Aki-san"_

_"You have pretty eyes he said. "Both of them. Have you seen?" he swished around in the front of his kimono until he found a mirror._

_She looked in it, and then pulled back, shocked. Her left eye was different. A Byakugan. "How-? How did-?"_

_"Orochimaru-sama brought you here. Kabuto gave you that eye. Don't worry, you'll like it here. I do. I'll be your friend" he said, purple eyes flashing. "You should meet everyone else."_

_"Everyone else?"_

_"Yeah! Kimimaro and Jirobou and Sakon and Kin and Zaku and…" Akiko smiled._

_"Um… hai" Maya said hesitantly. She took his hand and climbed out the window. They ran together until they reached a small courtyard._

_"Ne! Everyone! It's Maya-hime!" Akiko yelled. Three heads turned to see them._

_"So you're the new one?" Sakon asked. Maya nodded._

_"She looks weak" Tayuya said dismissively. Her words made Maya flinch. Akiko saw this._

_"Ne, Tayuya, are you really a girl?" Akiko asked._

_"Who taught you that?" she glowered. Maya hid behind Akiko's back._

_"You don't have to be afraid of Tayuya" Kimimaro said gently._

_"H-hai…" Maya replied._

_"You'll be strong" he added. Maya blushed._

Sasuke was recovering from his wounds in a clearing, reading Momiji Akiko's file again.

"Momiji Akiko was the last of the Momiji clan, which was once well known as the witches who inspired madness, or casters of the crimson. Their gift was genjutsu- it was their strongest skill, the adepts said to never actually fight, since they were more than able to dispel any attackers with illusions. All of their genjutsu began with the image of red leaves falling, leading their bloodline limit to be called the dream under the autumn leaves. They were also known to be able to summon and control Inugami- clan legend has it that there was an ancient pact between the two.

What made Akiko so unusual was that until he was born, all the inheritors of the Yume no Momiji were female. He showed great promise. However, his mother, distraught at the death of Akiko's older sister and the death of her bloodline limit, named Akiko after his sister and raised him as a girl. Akiko's gender was discovered, and he and his mother were run out of town.

The town had drowned his sister earlier after a particularly hard drought year. She was sixteen at the time. When Akiko's mother abandoned him by the side of the road to forage, she didn't come back. She was killed by roaming drunks. It was then that Akiko was recruited."

Sasuke put the file aside in disgust. He couldn't stand to think about it for a single second longer. It was dark enough to make a fire, and he burned every scrap of paper that he had taken with him.

"Ugh. Damn morning sickness" Temari said out loud, trying to steady her balance. "There goes breakfast" she walked to the sink and washed her face in cold, clear water. She wiped her hands on her dress and stopped to examine the source of the crinkling noise her pocket had just emitted. She pulled out Gaara's letter.

_Don't come home._

"Oh yes, little brother, I'm fine. Love you too." She said to Gaara, who was in his office in a different country who couldn't possibly have heard her even if he was acknowledging her existence.

Kankuro had flipped, of course. In fact, two months into it he was still flipping out. And if Shikamaru said "troublesome" one more time her baby would be growing up fatherless. For crying out loud, what kind of guy proposed by saying "Will you marry me, troublesome woman?". Then she smiled vaguely. At least the ring was pretty. Alright, it was gorgeous. That was something to be happy about.

"Yeah, we've been over this. It is gorgeous. It matches your eyes. And as to your 'what kind of guy' question, the kind of guy you're getting married to in a month" Tenten said.

"I was talking out loud again, wasn't I?" Temari asked. The two had become surprisingly good friends. Temari had a knack for making friends with people who lost to her. She grimaced. Okay. Sometimes more than friends.

"Yes. You were. And we're late," Tenten agreed.

"We are?" Temari asked.

"Well, if your appointment was at two thirty, then yes we are late." Tenten said.

"Okay, let's go" Temari said.

They got to the hospital to hear Shikamaru's lazy drawl. "Oi, how troublesome. You're late"

"You know what's really troublesome? Feeling bloated and feverish and puking my guts out every morning. That's troublesome." She growled.

"No, what'll be really troublesome is if you're late to dinner with my family tonight" Shikamaru grinned.

"Are you suicidal, or did you just never learn not to argue with a pregnant woman, baka!" Tenten said. Then she looked at her watch "We're really late now."

"I blame you," Temari shot Shikamaru the evil eye. He pretended not to see. Tenten rolled her eyes and pushed them both up the stairs and into the waiting room.

"Well, everything looks good so far," Tsunade said after the examination. "There's no sign of anything wrong. So let's make an appointment in two weeks, okay?"

"Alright," Temari agreed.

"The morning sickness shouldn't be so bad by then, but it still bothers you, try drinking mint tea. It should help settle your stomach. You should also try eating five or six light meals instead of three big ones- that should help too" Tsunade grinned. Then she took a kunai out and tied a note around it.

"Tenten?" she asked "Would you be so kind as to throw this so it lands right above Shikamaru's head?" Tsunade started to take off her gloves. Tenten nodded.

A second later there was a loud **thunk** beside Shikamaru's left ear. He took the note off it and read:

_This is the first inter-village birth between Suna and Konoha. I will personally kill you if you screw it up heart ._

_-Tsunade-_

"Troublesome," he said to himself.

Wow, seven chapters into it. I decided to put Temari and Shikamaru into it for the sheer fun of it. Besides, I love that couple, and it was nice to be able to put them in for a chapter.

And now I am super glad that I have the Naruto soundtrack burned onto my computer. It's just that much more fun to be able to write if I can hear what would be playing at that particular moment. Thanks so much for all reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

Maya was on her first mission for Konohagakure no sato. Alright, it wasn't official. But it was a mission. It a was a mission of utmost importance- Neji-ni-chan had said so.

Still, outside of the added excitement of being able to be outside, and to get to say that she was on a mission, this was a really boring assignment. She yawned sleepily. She'd been having bad dreams lately, and it was difficult not to fall asleep in the sunshine. But Neji-ni-chan had assigned this mission to her, and she wasn't about to fail.

Still, she didn't see why reporting every single second of his cousin's date was so important. She yawned and tried to concentrate on the conversation.

"And so then there was this HUGE explosion, and-" Maya glared at the blonde boy. What right had he to be so loud? Neji's cousin- his girlfriend- Hinata, smiled.

"What do you see in him?" she asked the young woman below. "He's loud, he's annoying, he talks too much…" she sighed. But her complaining was half hearted.

For one thing, Hinata looked completely likeable. She seemed gentle and sweet. Maya could see why Naruto's grip around her was so protective. And she listened to him like he was the only voice in the world.

But Maya was sure that the real discontentment, the cause of her irritation, was the fact that she had never seen two people look so happy with each other. Well, there was some distant memory, hazy but there, of a festival, when her father swooped down on her mother with cotton candy, and there had been a tiny flicker of a moment where they had looked at each other. But then it was gone. That was what she was reminded of when she looked at them. She shook off the memory.

They moved down the block slowly, looking at the shop windows, laughing. Every once in awhile, someone would bow to Hinata, or pause and talk to Naruto. At the end of the block they stopped at a ramen stand. Maya watched them from around a corner. She jumped up on the roof, and was surprised to collide with something shortly before her feet hit the roof.

That something turned out to be a girl. "Hey! What do you think you're doing? Do you know who I am?" The two girls stood up at the same time and looked at each other.

Maya was suddenly very glad that she had a genjutsu over her eyes. Because, except for a few details, they looked like reflections of each other. Maya was a bit taller, and her hair was thicker and styled differently. The girl had Byakugan and held herself differently, but they shared the same facial shape, the same pale skin and dark hair.

"I ASKED, do you know who I am?" the girl repeated. "I'm Hyuuga Hanabi, prodigy of the main branch."

"That's nice," Maya replied with as much politeness as she could manage.

"Apologize!" Hanabi demanded.

"Gomenasai. I didn't mean to hit you, but I'm on a mission." Maya said, trying to look over her shoulder.

"Who are you! Tell me your name!" Hanabi stomped her foot. "And I want a real apology!"

Maya gave her a scathing look. Interfere with her mission, would she? "Oh, I'm _so_ very sorry, Hanabi-sama. Sumimasen." Hanabi looked pleased.

"Now get the-" and that's when Maya said something that Neji would have smacked her for "-out of my way!"

"Who do you think you are?" Hanabi glared at her.

"Get out of my way! Who are you to interfere with MY mission!" Maya snapped.

"I'm a Hyuuga."

"So what?"

"So you have to respect me!"

"Well that's news to me, prodigy-san! I don't have to respect anyone who hasn't earned it, _especially_ if that person relies on their stupid clan name to try to get my respect!"

"Well **I** can walk the talk, and **YOU** haven't proven yourself worthy of standing in my presence!" Hanabi said.

Maya lost it. She turned away from the Hanabi, signed rapidly, and then said "KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

Hanabi's expression changed rapidly as she watched the flames dance. At first she seemed a little amazed, then scared, but her face finally settled on aloof. Without admitting her defeat in words, Hanabi asked "What's your name?"

"Maya," a grin played at the edges of her mouth.

"Maya who?"

"Maya of the I-don't-need-a-clan-to-back-me-up clan," Maya said.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry I screwed up your mission," Hanabi said.

Maya sighed. "Man, Neji is gonna kill me," Hanabi looked up.

"You know Neji-ni-san?"

"Yeah. He was the one who assigned me the mission."

"What was your mission?"

"To watch Naruto-san and Hinata-sama on their date," Maya said.

"That's what Otto-san sent me to do," Hanabi admitted. "Hinata is my Onee-san and Neji is my cousin."

"Oh. Sorry. We both ended up failing our missions," Maya said.

"Not really. I know the type of stuff they talk about. I think we're just supposed to make sure Hinata keeps herself pure," Hanabi shrugged. "Here, I want a soda. How 'bout you?"

Maya shrugged. Actually, a soda sounded good, but she was broke. "Nah."

Hanabi's eyes narrowed. "You know, when someone offers you a drink, it's common courtesy to accept. And since I asked, I'll pay," Hanabi held her nose up. "Besides, I'm a Hyuuga. Who cares about a few ryou?"

Ten minutes later they were sitting on the swings at a play ground. Maya sipped her strawberry soda quietly, listening to her new found friend's chatter.

"And so then Konohamaru- argh! He's so annoying, and loud and stuff," Hanabi said.

"Then why do you sound like you admire him?" Maya asked in a teasing tone.

Hanabi blushed, but kept a stubborn expression on her face. "As if. I'm not going to debase myself by liking someone outside the family. I'm not going to be like Hinata. Like she'll be able to marry that stupid Blondie anyways."

"What does family have to do with anything? It'll be your wedding, not theirs. Your life. Besides, Konohamaru is the Sandaime's grandson, right?" Maya said.

"Well what would you know?" Hanabi sniffed.

"You're right. I don't know what it's like to have an obligation to my family. Or, really, what it's like to like someone. I think there was a boy who liked me, but…" Maya stopped.

Hanabi didn't say anything. There was a long pause, and then-

"Anyways, I have to be going now. I'll see you around, Maya-chan."

"I'll pay you back some time," Maya replied.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm a Hyuuga. If I went around making people pay me back for stuff, it'd look strange. Don't sweat it."

"I will pay you back," Maya replied, just as stubbornly. Hanabi rolled her eyes and walked off.

"I couldn't find you again today," Ino scolded. "Where do you run off to?"

Maya grinned. "I was on an urgent mission." She adjusted her Hitai-ate proudly, while Ino simply rolled her eyes.

"Alright then, fine. I don't want to know. Anyways, I have to take Sakura some lunch. I'll be back in about an hour, okay? And take a bath, you're all dirty."

"Hai, Ino-Onee-chan."

"Be good. And make sure Akeko is good too."

"Alright, Ino-Onee-chan."

"Good girl," Ino shut the door behind her, swinging the bento she'd made. Sakura, after Sasuke left, had poured herself into her work. Not a date in four years. Ino smiled to herself. Speaking of dates…oh well. Might as well admit to herself that she'd gone absolutely nuts. What had she been thinking? And why was she still smiling?

"Ne, Ino-chan!" Naruto called. He and Hinata were walking down the street, hand in hand. Ino waved back.

Hiashi had found out about his daughter's choice of boyfriend, and he had not been pleased. In fact, he ordered her never to see him again. And that was when Hinata had confirmed that people really can change. She'd spoken to her father in privacy, and when he came out, their relationship was never the same. No one knew what had been said in that room, but Hinata had proven Naruto's worth, and her own. They were still going strong in a way that made Ino envious. There were sure to be big changes in the Hyuuga household with her in charge. And if a clanless brat who the villagers despised could end up dating the head, then-

Oh no. She was not thinking about that. It was just some rash desire to be able to use the wedding dress that was hanging at the back of her closet. There was no way in hell. Not a single chance. She was simply hallucinating as a result of her new diet.

Crazy. Absolutely crazy. She had gone off the deep end. But she was still thinking about the blasphemous thought in the back of her head.

_Maybe there was room for two blondes in the Hyuuga clan?_

Ino strode all the way to the hospital, face on fire. She was going to get something to eat and then she would be able to exorcise the mad thought racing around in her head.

She slammed open the doors, the on-duty nurse glaring at her. "Excuse me, where's Sakura? I promised to bring her lunch?"

"I'm right here," Sakura said, wiping her hands on a towel. "I still have to make follow-up rounds. I'll be back in twenty minutes."

She was three paces down the hall when a very freaked-out looking Kiba burst through the doors. She had just begun to turn around when Tsume and Hana followed, Hana with a hand pressed to her enormously pregnant belly.

Ino was turning pale, but there was no time to be squeamish. She pushed Kiba aside and then put his hand in his sister's. Hana's belly was moving. A lot. All anyone could do was get screens set up.

And that's how Inuzuka Hitomi was born in the hospital's lobby.

Half an hour later, Kiba having seen more of his sister than he had ever intended to… ever, Ino helped catch Hitomi. She was okay with holding the baby. That was fine. Except then there was the last really bloody part. Because that's where dieting and aversion to blood combined and took over, and Ino blacked out. Sakura grabbed the baby at the very last second and let Ino fall to the floor. Hard.

Ino woke up an hour later. Tsunade was sitting next to her in a chair, clearly waiting for her to wake up. When she saw Ino's eyelids flutter open, she grinned.

"You did good" Tsunade said simply. And then her expression changed. "No more dieting. You fainted from hunger. When and what was the last thing you remember eating?"

"Onigiri. Last night"

"How many"

"Two"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. Then she stood up and looked out the window. Her expression darkened. "What is he-?" Tsunade didn't finish her question. Ino looked through the window and gasped. Neji. And his shoulder was bleeding. Badly.

Tsunade walked past the bed. Like hell Ino was just going to sit there. She waited, counted ten footsteps and got out of the bed and snuck out of the room, trailing Tsunade, who didn't seem to notice. She saw Neji being escorted into a hospital room and watched through the small window as Tsunade healed his shoulder. It was right above the scar from the botched Sasuke-retrieval mission.

"What are you doing here, Ino-cha…" Sakura looked through the window at the patient, then at Ino. Then at Neji again, and Ino. She began to smile. Ino knew that smile. Oh gods, she didn't think she could forget that smile if she tried. "Oh…" Sakura smirked. "You _like_ him," Sakura stated. It wasn't a question.

"Shut up!" Ino snapped. She wasn't about to tell her the thoughts that filled had filled her head as she walked to the hospital. Which was really kind of funny- she had been so eager to tell Sakura every detail about Shikamaru when they first started going out. So eager, so talkative in fact, that Sakura changed the lock on her door and wouldn't give Ino the extra key for two weeks, so she would get at least a little peace and quiet.

Ino, however, was saved by Tsunade. "What are you doing out of bed?" Tsunade asked, glaring.

"It's okay, I made her eat something," Sakura lied. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that. Sakura didn't let a single trace of her falsehood show itself on her face. Sakura simply pushed Ino past Tsunade.

Neji was looking angry when the girls came in. He didn't respond to Ino's muffled "Hey".

There was, however, a certain plus to the fact that he wasn't wearing his shirt. Ino licked her lips subconsciously.

Both girls stood there, feeling self-conscious after a few minutes of stony silence. Neji wasn't talking. Tsunade was also in the doorway. Finally the Hokage snapped "For the sake of all the gods, it isn't like you failed the mission. You actually managed to get me some valuable information."

Neji was pissed, but not angry enough to glare at the fifth. He looked away. And all of a sudden, Ino knew what was wrong with him. She'd seen her father wear that expression before. When he came home from missions that had failed.

"You're pissed because you fought somebody and lost," Ino accused.

"I didn't lose!" Neji snapped. And he hadn't.

"Well you didn't outright win, and now you're sulking!" Ino said. Neji glared.

"It was Sasuke," he said. Sakura choked. Without saying a word, she turned and flew out of the room, eyes sparkling.

"That was not the time for that!" Tsunade yelled.

It looked like blood was going to be spilt for a second there, but suddenly heaven supplied a white-haired miracle.

"Yo" Jiraiya said, appearing in the middle of the room with a cloud of smoke. Everyone's face went slack. He didn't notice their expressions but continued. "I just got word from Ashura. Orochimaru officially went berserk. Guess why?" He said. No one ventured a guess. After an awkward pause, he said "Uchiha Sasuke up and left. He ran away and destroyed one of Orochimaru's bases."

There was a slow dawning of revelation on the three listeners. "But Neji fought him," Ino said, struggling to understand.

"So? A guy doesn't have to be on Orochimaru's side to get in a fight. It happens. Plus he'd just heard that his niece died." Jiraiya shrugged.

"Wait, what?" Tsunade asked. "Where did you hear this? From Ashura?"

"Yeah. He said he had a report that had been distributed in the deserted base saying that Uchiha Maya had been killed defending the base by a Konoha ninja" Jiraiya said.

"Damn" Ino swore. And it felt good, after holding her tongue for so long, what with Maya around.

Neji, however, was beginning to understand how his casual answer of "Finishing a mission" sounded. Of course Sasuke would have assumed- Neji shuddered. As cold hearted as he was, it was nice to have someone outside the family call him ni-chan.

Tsunade cursed creatively. Then she took a breath and said calmly "So Sasuke is real nuke-nin now. Damnit." Then she glanced at Jiraiya. "You. Come with me right now," She said, then dragged Jiraiya to her office by his ear.

Ino and Neji were left alone. And that's when Ino burst into tears. Neji looked alarmed. But it felt nearly as good to be bawling her eyes out as it did to curse. Neji made the mistake of asking her what was wrong.

"Damnit, Hyuuga Neji," Ino's voice was raised fiercely. "I was dumped by my fiancé two weeks ago and got a little girl who happens to be my nuke-nin ex-crush's niece staying in my house, and I have to take care of a dog, I've had to lie to my best friend, You've had Maya spying on your cousin, Kiba's older sister gave birth an hour ago, not only in front of me but partially on me, and I was worried about you when all you were doing was sulking! And my best friend has locked herself in the girl's bathroom for a good cry and will cry under her pillow all night tonight, and I still have to go home and take care of Maya and make sure she bathes and tell her that you, her big brother, got a chunk ripped out of his shoulder by the only remaining member of her family who didn't ruin her life." Ino was really letting the tears flow then.

And Neji had the decency to swallow his pride and look ashamed, and in his own awkward but comforting way patted her on the shoulder. He said something along the lines of "everything will be okay", and she believed him. She put faith in his words.

That afternoon, she came back with flowers, anemone and daisy and purple pansy viola, (she didn't tell him what they meant: expectance, innocence and "you occupy my thoughts"), and he said the closest thing to sweet nothings she would hear for six months.

"Your eyes are bluer when you cry."

And then she laughed for a long time, in a way she hadn't for what felt like ages.

_Orochimaru didn't make real teams, teams in the way Kakashi was so fond of speaking of. What Maya and Akiko became wasn't a real team. They became best friends. Which, after careful consideration, was exactly what he wanted. Maya was a genius, and Akiko was the last of his kind._

_"Try it again"_

_"Byakugan!" Maya shouted. She'd been working for three hours straight. This time something clicked. There was a sort of a whooshing sensation in her left eye, and suddenly, the darkness lifted. But what she could see was different, strange. Similar to what she saw through her Sharingan, but clearer somehow._

_"Very good, Maya" Orochimaru said. "That's all for today. Can you see out of it?"_

_"Hai, Orochimaru-sama."_

_"Excellent. In that case, I believe Akiko is done with his training. You may go to him."_

_"Hai, Orochimaru-sama!" this time more cheerfully._

_As she scampered off, Kabuto approached Orochimaru. "If you don't mind me asking, Orochimaru-sama, why do you let her spend so much time with that boy?"_

_Orochimaru smiled. "Kabuto. They both have superior Kekkai Genkai that can be enhanced by the death of a best friend. Or a loved one," he replied._

_"Soka… I see…"_

_"Kimimaro-kun?" Maya called. "I brought you flowers!"_

_He looked up at her and Akiko. She was holding a clump of narcissus, still in the dirt. Akiko watched her with careful violet eyes._

_"Arigato" he said. Maya beamed and Akiko looked away. "How was your training today?"_

_"It was good. I can copy techniques now, and I used the Byakugan for the first time today" Maya replied. It had been only two and a half months since she came, and she was already changed. Older, in some incomprehensible way. Not really a child anymore._

_"So what are you going to learn now, Maya-hime?"_

_"Orochimaru-sama is sending me to Konoha to copy Jyuken" she replied. "I still don't remember anything from before, but I'm happy to be going" she added._

_"You act much older than your age. You spend too much time around older people. Akiko is seven and he's the youngest." Kimimaro said._

_"I don't mind," Maya shrugged. _

_Akiko grabbed onto her sleeve. "Come on, Maya. Let's go play," he said, excited. But Kimimaro noticed the way he looked at Maya. He was older than his age too._

_"Okay. Bye Kimimaro!"_

_Kimimaro waved them off. They ran together, holding hands, until they came to a training ground. "Kin-chan! Zaku-kun! Dosu-kun!" they chanted._

_"No! Stupid annoying brats!" Zaku tried to brush them off. _

_"You're just mad that Akiko nearly beat you," Kin smirked._

_"I'm not!" Zaku blushed._

_"We're training right now," Dosu said kindly. His face wasn't bandaged yet. "You should train too."_

_"Yeah! Get out of here before I slice you up!" Zaku boasted, showing them the new holes in his hand. Maya had heard him crying before, in the middle of the night, because it hurt. But in daylight, he was full of bravado._

_Akiko stuck out his tongue, causing Maya to giggle helplessly. "like you could"_

_"Be nice. Go train and I'll come brush your hair tonight" Kin said._

_"Okay!"_

_"Hai!"_

_They ran off into the forest. For a while they fought with Kunai, and then they practiced Genjutsu. Then, when they were tired, they lay on the grass, breathing deeply._

_"Whose Jyuken are you going to copy?" Akiko asked finally._

_"The Hyuuga genius," Maya replied._

_"Oh," Akiko was quiet. Finally, he asked "Do you remember why you don't remember anything from before?"_

_"I think I wanted to forget. Sometimes I dream about it… I remember things… faces… but they're gone," Maya admitted quietly, shading her eyes from the bright summer light._

_"Hmm… My mother always made me dress like a girl. She wanted another one, another Akino. I didn't mind, but the people in our village did… I wonder what happened to Okaa-san."_

_"Mmm… let's go see if Kin-chan is done yet," Maya suggested. Anything to get away from her empty memory._

_"Okay," he took her hand and they ran back together, That night Kin brushed their hair and she plaited Maya's hair into millions of tiny braids._

_The next day, when she came to Konoha, she still had them in her hair, and a genjutsu over her eyes making them look blue. She was supposed to be tracking Hyuuga Neji, so she could copy him when he practiced._

_She found him in a flower shop- that was odd. He was buying a big bouquet. The girl behind the counter, a blonde, only seven or eight, was arguing with him. She jumped off her stool to chase after him. He caught her as she slipped in a puddle of water left from where a bucket of fresh flowers had been moved. _

_"Be more careful, Yamanaka-san," he said, loud enough for Maya to hear. The girl blushed and regained her footing._

_Then the girl stuck her tongue out "Bleah! Don't need your help!" Neji walked away._

_Someone bumped into Maya. "Oh, gomenasai," the person exclaimed. Maya turned to see a girl with pink hair apologizing to her. Maya looked down and followed after Neji without a word to the other girl._

_Neji went back to the Hyuuga compound. Maya saw him tap at a screen door. A girl opened it and he shoved the flowers at her. "These are for you to press, Hinata-sama" he said, and then jumped off the porch._

_She followed him to the forest, perched in a tree and turned on her Sharingan to watch him. He began the basic sets. She watched for what must have been six hours, memorizing his every move. He finally set off for home as it got dark. _

_She was amazed by the grace and beauty of Jyuken. And she knew it now. She followed him back to the Hyuuga compound._

_She followed him for a week and copied his training. There were a few times when she thought he caught sight of her, but he never acted as if he did. After her week in Konoha, she went back to Oto._

_Years passed quickly for Maya, who acted much older than her actual age- seven. She acted like an adult. By this point she was at least Chunin level. She copied Neji about once a month and was just as capable as he was. She could see tenketsu as well._

_She was Orochimaru's best and most favored experiment. If he was nothing else, Orochimaru was a man who pursued his whims ruthlessly. His current obsession was the Mangekyo. And Maya had a best friend._

_He called Maya and Akiko together, with orders to destroy one of his old bases. It had traps, the place was falling apart and crawling with the victims of his experiments, but he felt certain they could handle it. They would go with him._

_They'd gone on missions together before- spying, assassinations. Simple missions. And they had done well._

_But Akiko was getting too attached. And that was something Orochimaru didn't want. Akiko might turn on Orochimaru, like his sister had. For Maya. And that couldn't be allowed. He could do without the Yume no Momiji- no one else would ever have it, after all._

Hey! Two thirds through, awight! This is my longest chapter yet (in case you couldn't tell). The chapters will be getting longer from now on.

Okay, so here's a note for last chapter: Ino and Shikamaru are both sixteen. They were planning on getting married and Shikamaru is marrying Temari. Now I know that the age for marriage in the US is eighteen in most states, though people can marry younger with parental approval. But I figure most people, especially ninja, would marry younger because as a ninja, you might not have the longest lifespan. So that means that people probably marry and have children at a younger age. So if you were confused, you have your clarification. Anyways, face it, Shikamaru would be very sandy jelly if he knocked up Temari and then didn't marry her.

Oh, and just to be clear, I have no idea who the father of Hana's baby is… that was really a last minute addition to the story. Her name is Hitomi because it means "eye" and it fit with the Inuzuka clan's habit of naming members of their clan after body parts. Kiba, fang, Hana, nose, excetera. Anyways, thanks so much for all the reviews! Thanks to Kyiri as well! Review, please!


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

_They were inside the fort that would destroy the rest of Maya's life under Orochimaru completely. She and Akiko had split up from Orochimaru and were running down a long corridor. Every once in a while, someone fell prey to them. It was horribly easy._

_Meanwhile, Orochimaru was on the other side of the fort. He pressed his hand to the wall, funneling chakra into it. He shifted the rocks slightly, manipulating them until his chakra reached the hall Maya and Akiko were in._

_"What are you talking about, Akiko! Do you know what you're suggesting?" Maya asked over the sounds of fighting._

_"I know exactly what I'm talking about! He destroyed our lives! Look at what he did to me! He killed Akino! He killed my mom to get his hand on my stupid bloodline!"_

_"Well where would we go, you idiot? We're not even teenagers yet, and he's sannin!"_

_"So what? If we run away and he finds us, at least he'll kill us and we won't be pawns anymore!"_

_"You really think he'd give us up? We're the last of our kinds, baka! We'd just end up as experiments or his body! Do you really want that?"_

_"I want you to be free!"_

_"Why does it matter so much to you?" Maya screamed as she cut her last opponent down. Akiko smiled sadly, and before he could reply, there was a deep rumbling. Akiko's expression changed and he let out a surge of chakra that knocked Maya off her feet. She skidded down the hall._

_"What was tha-" Maya watched in horror as the ceiling caved in. "AKIKO!" She ran over to him, where his leg was crushed and trapped underneath the rock. She didn't have much medical knowledge, but even she could see that only amputation would save him, and maybe not even that._

_"Akiko! Akiko!" Maya sobbed. "You're my best friend! You can't die!" Akiko smiled._

_"Maya-hime." Maya turned around to see Orochimaru standing behind her. "Maya-hime, there is nothing now that can save his life. Kill him."_

_"Aki-kun!" Maya said quietly._

_"Maya, to me, you were much more than a best friend. Take this, and use my lifeblood on it. I knew this would happen. Just take it." Akiko whispered to her, handing her a scroll._

_"Kill him, Maya-hime," Orochimaru demanded again. "Obtain the Mangekyo."_

_"I always wanted you to be free," Akiko said. Maya let the tears flow freely as she delivered the deathblow. Akiko's purple eyes stared at her as the life left them. Maya broke down and sobbed. Akiko was eleven when he died. Maya was eight when she obtained the Mangekyo._

_She used Akiko's blood to draw a line down the scroll. Orochimaru looked mildly interested. "He left you a gift. How nice". There was a poof of smoke and a small puppy appeared, reddish and sickly looking. _

_"An Inugami," Orochimaru said, inspecting it. Maya gathered it up. "Akekonoha," she told it. "Red leaves. Akeko. Bloody child. That's your name."_

_"Yes. Now, Maya, swear your loyalty to me. Never betray me," Orochimaru said._

_"Hai, Orochimaru-sama."_

_"Good."_

_Only two returned from that mission, Orochimaru and Maya. It was a few weeks before the Chunin exams, and Orochimaru sent off Kin, Dosu and Zaku. Maya begged them all to come back._

_In a matter of speaking, they did. Kin and Zaku came back on hospital beds, and Maya heard Zaku's sobs through the walls, because his arm hurt. Then they too went away, never to return. Dosu never came back at all. Kimmimaro was already sick, and it was only a few months before everyone else left._

_Maya was sitting by Kimmimaro's bed when Kabuto told her the Sound Four were leaving to get Orochimaru's new body. She ran, not knowing why. It wasn't like she could stop them from going._

_"Please, you guys have to come back. Don't leave me all alone," Maya said, hugging Sakon._

_"Don't be stupid, kid! You think anyone can beat us?" Tayuya scoffed._

_"That's what Zaku said!"_

_"We're going to come back," Kidomaru said, ruffling her hair with one of his left hands._

_"Promise?"_

_And they had each promised to return. Each had sworn up and down that they would come back. And each of them lied. Maya was summoned in the middle of the night, brought face to face with Orochimaru, wearing Ginyamaru's face._

_"The Sound FIve fell. Your time here is done. I'm sending you back to the base. You are to protect its secrets with your life."_

_"The Sound Five fell? What are you talking about?"_

_"They were all defeated. They managed to bring me my new body, but each of them perished."_

_"Kimmimaro?"_

_"Yes. He left. He wished to serve the only purpose he had left. You are all alone now. There's nothing for you here now. You will go."_

_"Hai."_

_When she was sent back to her bed, Maya sobbed. Her body shook with the force of her tears. Everyone always promised to stay by her. They all promised not to leave her, or to return to her. And they lied. It wasn't their fault, but-_

_Maya thought about forgetting. Just wiping away her memories, but she remembered Akiko's words. _

_"Maya, to me, you were always much more than a best friend."_

_Akiko had loved her, really loved her. And it made her heart hurt to think about it. There wasn't any use trying to deny it- the first time she saw Kimmimaro, she fell for him, hard. There were six years in between them, and Akiko, and Kimmimaro's absolute devotion to Orochimaru, and a million other things, but she still felt like she really loved him. She had cared about the other sound four, too. They'd become family. And everyone left._

_But there was no use forgetting. Even if she did forget, those feelings would remain. They'd torment her. So she would face them instead of running away._

_The next day she was sent back to the base, Orochimaru eager to get Maya away from Sasuke. She only took a few pictures and Akeko with her._

_She lived there for four years until Neji came to the base. _

Sasuke breathed in salty air. He was on the top deck of the ship taking him to Mizu no Kuni. He didn't have a reputation there. He shouldn't have one, at least. He was going to start out on his search for Itachi there. And he thought he might visit Nami no Kuni while he was at it.

Okay, so underneath the cold-hearted and aloof exterior, he was angry. And grieving. And very, very sea sick. But he'd be damned if he let any of that show in his face. So he smirked, and he sat down, and he tried not to throw up.

Girls giggled nearby. They made him think of his fan-club back home, which he doubted anyone was still in. It had been supremely stupid to just up and leave like that if he wanted to rebuild his clan, but it was too late for regrets. If he had to, he'd marry some groupie.

So he'd track down Itachi, get his revenge, and then start a family. He thought about Konoha again. Fat chance he'd be going back any time soon. It was dangerous enough that he'd had to travel through Hi no Kuni, but going back to Konoha would be suicide. He thought briefly about what he had given up. A best friend… a teacher… People who accepted him… Sakura… He still wasn't sure what she meant to him. He tried not to think about it to much.

He sighed. He really had been stupid to leave that way. He got up and walked towards the ferry's snack bar, and bought a soda to settle his stomach. The girls from the deck had apparently followed him down there, and they giggled every time he so much as looked at their half of the room. Finally, one of the girls was pushed up to him by her friends.

"Uh, Hi. I'm Ruri. Can I sit here?" she said. She had really long brown hair and light green eyes.

"Knock yourself out," Sasuke shrugged. He thought she was going to faint. That would have been better, he wasn't in the mood for conversation. Instead, Ruri blushed and sat down next to him. She ordered a soda too and sipped quietly.

"So why are you going to Mizu no Kuni?" she asked.

"Business," He said simply.

"Oh. I'm from Kaze no Kuni." And then she started chattering about something or other. Sasuke just nodded and feigned interest. Seeing Ruri having such success, her friends walked over.

"Hey cutie. I'm Momoko, this is Madoka, and this is Kotomi. We're with Ruri," A curvy brunette said, motioning first to herself and then the blonde and the redhead behind her. Sasuke shrugged. Momoko sat down beside him and sidled over, placing her hand on his arm.

"So you got a name to go with that pretty face?"

"Nobuo," Sasuke said. Momoko smiled. Ruri looked disappointed that her friends had decided to join them. Kotomi and Madoka just blushed. Momoko ordered a Shirley Temple and preceded to suck the cherry off its stem in a way that made the barman break out into a cold sweat, but that Sasuke barely noticed.

The girls moved a little closer to him, and they soon attracted more and more girls, whose names Sasuke couldn't keep track of. By the time they got to Mizu no Kuni, Sasuke had twelve or thirteen followers. They all ate dinner with him, and they all stayed in the same hotel.

They apparently all enjoyed running around barefoot, in cotton kimonos that showed entirely more than was necessary, as they'd just bathed. They also liked to feed him sushi. It didn't really matter to him, he just let it happen.

He gave his extra room key to Momoko, the most persistent of his new-found groupies. She snuck up to his room shortly after one in the morning, wearing a familiar scent and her pale yellow kimono.

"Nobuo," she whispered sensuously. She planted her hands firmly on his shoulders and started to kiss him. Her brown hair fell in waves around her face, and it smelled like-

"What shampoo did you use?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, the Natural Shine kind," she said.

It was the type Sakura had started wearing after the Chunin exams. He remembered it because it had been such an abrupt change, and when he asked her about it, she wouldn't answer. Naruto had cackled something about Poku's shampoo, or Puka's, or something. Sasuke buried his face in her hair.

"Nobuo," Momoko repeated. She reached up for another kiss. Sasuke's eyes were half-closed in a dreamlike bliss.

"Sa-" he said. Momoko stiffened, and he realized his mistake. "Momoko" he amended, but not fast enough.

Momoko slapped him across the face and left him with ringing ears and a burning face. Damnit. Well that was just great. He slammed the door and threw himself on the bed. Damnit. What was that all about? He didn't have time to be romancing groupies. And especially not in a bad enough fashion to get himself slapped. He punched his pillow and vowed to stay focused, and basically avoided the whole issue. He went to sleep still pissed off and restless.

Only two of his groupies were there in the morning, Saori and Sakuya. It didn't matter much, though. He had attracted an new crowd by dark.

"So Sakura says you're leaving today," Ino said, slicing an apple. Neji rolled his eyes. He'd never received so much as a blade of grass before, flower-wise, and now he had more than he knew what to do with.

"You're supposed to peel it, Ino-san," He pointed to the apple. Ino stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's Ino. Just Ino. And the skin is the best part of an apple," Ino said. "And when are you getting out?"

"Today. Though yesterday they also mentioned me getting out, and I ended up staying another night," Neji replied.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I bet they can't wait to kick you out," Ino teased. "Anyways, at least you're out before our date."

Neji looked away. He was definitely not feeling self conscious. Really. "Hai." Ino laughed. The door slid open with a click. Sakura lifted her eyebrow and grinned. Ino threw her a look that dared her to making any of the several dozen remarks running around in her head.

"Tsunade-sama says you can go now" Sakura restrained herself to a slight smile. "She sent me, in case you need any help,.

"Could you carry some of the flowers?" Neji asked. Ino hid a smile. She picked up the first day's bouquet and the irises. Sakura carried out the lilies and the daffodils, and Neji took the roses.

They took the stairs to the lobby, where they were surprised by-

"Neji! I hear you are being released from the hospital! Let the power of youth heal you!" Lee's teeth pinged.

"… I'm already healed… that's why I'm being released…" Neji said, deadpan.

Lee, Tenten, Gai, Hinata and Naruto were all waiting for him. Naruto grinned. "Hey! I heard you got busted up. Nothing like Ichiraku's for first aid!"

"Baka, what kind of food is ramen for someone who's just getting out of the hospital?" Tenten asked. Then she stopped, looked at Neji, looked at Ino, looked at the flowers, then looked back at Ino. She grinned.

"Oh…" She said. Then in her sweetest voice, she asked "Oi, Ino-san, what are you doing here?"

"I was visiting," said Ino, a flush creeping up her face.

"Eh? I thought you hated each other?" Naruto asked. Ino looked down. Neji remained aloof.

"Come on, guys, that's not any way to treat a guy who just got out of the hospital. cough They'regoingouttoRingo'sthedayaftertomorrow cough" Sakura cleared her throat loudly.

"Yosh! My student is filled with the youthful spirit of love!"

"OHMIGOD! Really?" Tenten asked.

Naruto was rolling on the ground, laughing his ass off. Hinata was looking shocked, and Lee and Gai were celebrating this breakthrough in Neji's youthful spirit.

"Sakura, you are. SO. Dead," Ino muttered. Then she started throwing kunai at Naruto.

"Gah! Woman, what are you doing? Do you want to kill me or something?" Naruto asked.

"Why, yes, in fact, I DO want to kill you" Ino replied. But before the fight could escalate, Tsunade threw them all out of the building.

They ended up going to the ramen stand anyways, at Naruto's expense. Ino and Neji were teased mercilessly until Neji planted a small explosive in Naruto's ramen, so it blew up in his face. Then everyone turned the teasing to Naruto.

Tsunade stared hopelessly at the enormous inbox in front of her, overflowing onto her desk. Most of it was mission requests, though there was paperwork in there too. Tsunade pulled the nearest letter to her. She'd gone through five when she finally came across a very strange letter. It looked as though it had something spilled on it, and when Tsunade sniffed it, she could tell it was sake. A very special brand of sake. The address confirmed her suspicions. It was addressed to "Tonadi" she sighed and opened it up.

"_Whoowee! Having a blurry good time wif Jiraya. He said sum very naughtee thingies about you, but my blurry head hurts to blurry much to think o what it waz… um… this did have a point… swear… blurry…guwa… I've had too much to drink…_

_Right… ya got anyone you can send me to keep me company? New shrine thingy? I'm all alone! They all blurry left… all alone. I'm SO ALONE! Mmm… I need a new pretty person to keep me company ALL THRU THE NIGHT! Blurry… one with glasses… and pretty hair… I'll give you stuff… No I won't…. Aw crap, did I just write that? Yes I did._

_On another spot of busyness, I totally figured out the meaning of life… l337! 1 R B4I , 594I\I/ /\/\3 /-/4R/ ! R4\/\/I ! 1 7074LLY P\/\/I\I3D j00 n00bs!_

_Ashura!_

_PS. Come drinking sometime soo! And send me a new shrine maiden!_"

"Oh for the love of all the gods! Shizune! Make sure this kind of cra-" Tsunade glanced down at the letter again. She had an idea. Oh gods forgive her. She scanned the letter again. YES! Ashura never specified a gender for this shrine maiden! Tsunade smirked. Oh Ashura. If this wouldn't teach him not to write letters when he was drunk, nothing would.

Neji walked Ino back to her apartment. They were lingering on Ino's doorstep in a sort of awkward silence, when they heard a crash. They both jumped. Ino jiggled the key in the lock, and when it wouldn't give, she shoved it open.

Ino saw a girl, clearly a Hyuuga, standing in front of Maya. While the Hyuuga was still turning around, Ino hit her with the Shintenshin. Neji caught her body as it crumpled gracefully.

"Maya! Are you okay?" Ino asked through the Hyuuga's mouth. Maya looked confused. "It's me, Ino. I'm using the Shintenshin. It enables me to take over the psyche of another person. It's okay. It's me. Are you alright?"

"H-hai. I'm sorry. Sh-she followed me back here. She saw me when I was a few blocks away from here. I panicked." Maya said numbly.

"Hey. It's okay. Neji, do you know who I am?" Ino asked.

"Yes. Hyuuga Hinako, one of the branch family. An assassin. She's not very bright. She was placed in the assassination branch in the hopes that she'd get killed off." Neji said.

"Alright. She shouldn't know who I am, I don't think she got a good look at my face. I'll go dump her somewhere. She'll wake up in a few hours with no recollection of what happened. Just take care of my body"

"It's not safe here. I'm taking Maya to the Hokage's tower. Maya, get packed. The Hokage will find someone else to take care of you." Neji said. Maya looked like she might cry, but she ran into her room and started packing. Akeko yipped at Neji.

"Okay. I'll be back in a few" Ino winked. Then she climbed out the window and headed for the edge of town. She found a suitable rice paddy and said "Kai!". Hinako's body fell into the mud.

On a couch at the Hokage's tower, Ino suddenly woke up. She pressed a hand to her head. Doing long-distance returns always gave her a headache. Maya waved.

Tsunade opened the door to the small room. "Hello, Ino. You two are staying here tonight. Neji went to go get you some pajamas. Care to explain what happened? Neji rushed off and Maya hasn't said a word."

Ino filled in the details, and Tsunade simply nodded. "Well, it would seem that Konoha is so longer a safe place for Maya. So it's a good thing that I found a place for Maya to stay." Maya and Ino looked up.

"What?"

Tee hee… oh god, scary laughter… I'm really tired, in case you couldn't tell. So this chapter had a couple of OCs, but Sasuke's groupies and Hinako don't come in again… But Ashura does. He's the one who is going to be teaching Maya. Anyways, yeah! This is so close to being finished! That makes me happy. And as soon as I get up the first chapter of the sequel, I'm going to be starting a side story to Purity of White, but a HinaNaru, though there will be some NejIno and SasuSaku. Anyways, thanks for reading. Now review! Oh, and this chapter broke fifty pages if you count the page breaks in between chapters! Coolness! Only three more chapters!


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, since I just realized I didn't disclaim for any other chapter, I'll do it right now.

I don't own Naruto. Imagine that.

_**Chapter 10**_

"It's like I said. I've found a place for Maya to stay. It's a mountain at the edge of Hi no Kuni," Tsunade said. "I have a friend there, by the name of Ashura. Like you, Maya, he has a surgically implanted Byakugan. And, he also has a Mangekyo… and… Okay, let me start this over. Ashura was the last of a clan from the north, between the Hi/Taki and Hi/Kusa borders. They were well known Katon users, and their Kekkai Genkai consisted of two things: One, being born with three eyes, and Two, being able to spontaneously combust and rise from the ashes anew, which is why their symbol was the phoenix. In fact, the legend surrounding their clan is that the first member of it was born from a goddess who consorted with a phoenix. How that explains the three eyes, I'm not sure. In any case, Ashura was born away from the other members of his clan, which is a good thing, considering they were all wiped out a few months before his birth. His mother left him to fend for himself when he was eleven or twelve. It was then that he was captured by Orochimaru. He had all three of his eyes replaced, his left with a Byakugan, his right with a Sharingan, and the one in the middle of his forehead with an eye that came from a clan that died off in the last century. It was the union of this clan and the Hyuuga clan that brought forth the Uchiha clan, and their eyes were used for genjutsu and the like, and it's where the Sharingan's ability to copy techniques came from," Tsunade explained.

"So in other words, he's a perfect teacher for Maya, seeing as he's had to cope with learning to use the Sharingan and the Byakugan," Ino said. Tsunade grimaced.

"He sounds like a good teacher for her, doesn't he? Well, the problem is, he's not the most upstanding example of a role model. He has drinking parties all the time- in fact, that's how I first met him. Among the higher-ups, he's famous for his information. His mountain is a place where no one is allowed to use violence, and lots of people: Bingo-book level, Jiraiya and I, even Kages know him. He's where Jiraiya gets a lot of his information, seeing as Akatsuki drinks with Ashura too. Ashura's specialty is getting people drunk and getting information out of them. Maya will be safe there because even if Orochimaru himself came there, there wouldn't be a single thing he could do to take Maya back," Tsunade said.

"However, he is the GAYEST thing that has ever walked the earth. His catchphrase is 'banged him too'- if you ask him about ANY guy, that's what he's likely to reply. He can drive even the sanest person completely nuts, drinks like a fish, and he's a spoiled brat. But my hands are tied. He's really the best person to take care of Maya, and he sent me a letter asking for a new shrine maiden. So it's his own fault," Tsunade shrugged.

"Are you really sure it's the only way?" Ino asked. Maya had been staying with her for three weeks, and she'd become kinda attached.

"Unfortunately, yes," Tsunade shrugged.

"It's okay, Onee-chan," Maya smiled. "I've had to deal with worse." Then she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, I never got to ask you this, Ino-Onee-chan, but what does 'keeping yourself pure' mean?" she asked innocently.

Ino fell off her chair, and Tsunade broke the cup she was holding. Tsunade dabbed herself off and then asked "Maya-chan, do you know about the birds and the bees?" very slowly. Maya replied with a blank look. Tsunade tried again "Did you ever ask your parents where babies came from?"

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_"Okaa-san? Otto-san?" Maya asked curiously. Taki and Yumi were sipping at sake and watching the full moon._

_"Hai?_

_"Can I ask you something?"_

_"Anything, Princess."_

_"Okaa-san, you said that the woman who came to visit today had a baby in her tummy, but I thought that babies came from the hospital," Maya said._

_Her parents slopped sake all down their fronts and never answered her._

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"Um…" Maya said. "No, not really."

"Alright, if you're going to be living with Ashura, you're going to need all the facts. Okay, when people are attracted to each other, most of the time they start dating. As people get to know each other better, they want to be affectionate. Sometimes they hold hands, or hug, or kiss, or cuddle. But most people consider the ultimate expression of love to be sex," Tsunade said. Ino turned bright red. Did they have to discuss this in front of her?

"Sex?" Maya asked.

"Yes. Sex. Sex is when…" And Tsunade explained the process to her. Maya looked mildly interested, while Ino was looking for a rock to hide under.

"So then people have babies?" Maya asked.

"Not every time. It depends on how fertile the man is, and how fertile the girl is, and when she last had her period," Tsunade answered. Another blank look. Tsunade said. "Alright, let's back up. A girl is said to be getting her period when…" Tsunade told her about it.

"So that will happen to me?" Maya asked.

"Yes, sometime in the near future. What it means is that you are able physically, though definitely not emotionally, mentally or financially, to have a baby. So anyways, the likelihood of pregnancy depends on the fertility of the pair, when the girl is ovulating, and also the method, if any, of birth control. Because lots of people don't have sex just to have a baby, or wait until they are married. Some people have sex for pleasure. If that's the case, they use birth control. Birth control can be used in several forms. The most common is a condom," And Tsunade went off on a tangent about birth control.

"Now you also have to know about the other side if you're going to be staying with Ashura. Some men don't like women. And there are women who don't like men. Those people like other members of their same gender. This makes some people uncomfortable, but there is no reason to ostracize these people because of who they find themselves attracted to. Ashura is one of those people. He is a man who likes men. Men are able to have sex with other men, and women are able to have sex with other women, but it is simply for pleasure. It takes a man and a women to have a baby. These couples can't have children without adopting," Tsunade said. Then she went into the mechanics of relationships between people of the same gender.

"So is that about it, Maya?" Tsunade asked. Maya nodded. Ino thought that her face would never return to the same color.

"Okay," Maya said. "Thanks for explaining to me, Tsunade-sama." Then she asked bluntly "Have you ever had sex?"

"Yes" Tsunade said.

"Oh. What does it feel like?"

"It's kind of difficult to pin down, Maya-chan. If you really love the person, it can feel like being tickled. Kind of," Tsunade said.

"Hai." Maya said. "Onee-chan, have You ever had sex?"

Ino blushed "No. I have not. But that's not a question you should ask people, Maya-chan."

"Oh. Okay. Gomenasai," Maya said. Ino sighed.

"It's fine, kiddo," Ino said, trying not to let on that she'd learned a few things as well.

Neji walked in the door. Judging from the fact that his ears were slightly red at the top, he'd heard most of their conversation. He put down some clothes on the table and coughed uncomfortably.

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"More sake?" a Geisha asked politely. Itachi nodded. She filled his cup, and he sipped it. "They say that there are three Uchiha left in Hi no Kuni, Itachi-dono. What say you?"

"Hn," Itachi replied.

"If I'm going to pretend to be nice enough to ask about it civilly, you can damn well answer me. So are the rumors true? Did you leave another relative alive?" the Geisha asked.

"I don't pay for your company to be interrogated, Yuki-san," Itachi replied. Yuki smiled widely, perfect ruby lips parting into a malicious grin.

"I don't remember you paying me, Itachi-dono. I simply remember you showing up bedraggled at this tea house, begging for me to entertain you. So tell me about this niece of yours. You truly are despicable, giving up one of your kin to _him_." She glanced at him coyly.

"You don't have to try your tricks with me, Yuki-san."

Yuki batted her eyelids. "What_ever_ do you mean? I'm _simp_ly making conversation."

"It doesn't matter," Itachi replied gruffly. "She'll be dead soon anyways," then he set down his cup. "So how's your family?" Deep ruby eyes glared at him icily. "Oh, that's right…" he finished dryly.

Yuki refilled his cup slowly and carefully, making sure that the sake brimmed over the edge. The slightest shudder of his hand would send it slopping down Itachi's cloak.

He picked it up carefully and managed to get it to his mouth without spilling a single drop.

Yuki smiled nastily.

"You know, they've begun to call Yuki no Kuni Haru no Kuni lately, what are your feelings on that?" Itachi asked. She frowned.

"It's mortal folly. Yuki no Kuni was made for my kind. It was never a place for mortals. It was to be _our_ place. And now it's warming. It was the Princess's mother, one of us, who enabled her fool husband to create a spring for this place. Everywhere, we are hunted. We shed our tears and the land is consumed by the snow once more. And so it goes."

"How poetic of you. A 'person of the arts' indeed," Itachi smiled.

"Don't pretend you know anything of the arts, Weasel," Yuki said, face perfectly composed. "Or of Geisha. Or, indeed, of women," she poured more sake.

"But I know of the beauty of blood on snow."

Yuki's eyes flickered. "And that, I suppose, is the only reason I put up with you, Itachi-dono."

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"Eek! I can't do this! What made me think I could do this? EEK! Don't throw me back into the shark infested waters of DATING! Make it go away!" Ino squealed. Sakura rolled her eyes and flicked Ino in the back of the head.

"OW!"

"Don't be a piglet," Sakura scoffed.

"Are you kidding? You're super strong! It hurts!" Ino replied as Sakura yanked the comb through her hair again.

"Hey. Do me a favor and calm down. There. Perfect. Now turn around and let me do your makeup."

Ino turned around. Sakura compared four different lip glosses, trying to find the perfect color. She found the right one and slathered it on. She did the same thing with the eyeshade, and then gently brushed on blush.

"There. You look great," Sakura said.

Ino's hair was down, and she was wearing a shiny purple Chinese-style dress with butterflies on it. Her lips were a soft pale pink and she had a hint of purple around her eyes. She did look great. But she said, "Yeah right. I tried putting my hair down around him before.

It failed."

"Aw, shut up. Admit I did a good job," Sakura grinned and gave the thumbs up sign.

"Yeah, yeah. You did good," Ino admitted grudgingly.

"I know. Now get out of here," Sakura smiled.

"You're not coming with me?" Ino panicked.

"Hell no. You're a big girl now, you can do it. I'm not going to baby you anymore," Sakura said firmly, shoving her out the door.

"Traitor! Big forehead girl!" Ino yelled from the other side of the door. When Sakura didn't respond, Ino stomped down the hall.

Because Ino's apartment was now off limits, she was supposed to meet him at Ringo. She smoothed her hair down one last time and then set off.

She was ten minutes early when she arrived, but Neji was already waiting. He saw her and his lips twitched in what was almost a smile.

They walked into the restaurant together, though neither was brave enough to take the other's hand. There was a huge fountain in the middle of the floor, with a statue of a water nymph languishing in the middle.

"What?" Ino asked, embarrassed. She'd been spacing out instead of listening to Neji.

"I said, you look pretty," Neji coughed.

"Oh, thanks," she smoothed her dress to hide her blush.

He hadn't bothered to wear anything besides his normal clothes, but he still looked good. She'd have to ask him how he got his hair so shiny. She didn't realize that she was making him feel uncomfortable by staring until he started to fidget. Then she looked away.

A girl in a beautiful kimono walked up to them and asked for the name their table was under.

"Yamanaka Ino," Ino said, maneuvering herself so as to block the girl's view of Neji, who she was currently drooling over. The waitress glared politely and ushered them to a table. Neji pulled the chair out for Ino, which made her feel awkward. The last time she brought Shikamaru here, not only was he too lazy to pull out her chair, he was too lazy to pull out his own. So he sat on the floor until Ino pulled his chair out for him.

"Thanks," she said quietly. She pulled on her dress a little. Neji sipped at his water. He was feeling awkward too. He'd wanted advice from someone. His teacher was out of the question- Gai had been completely incoherent all week, shouting about the youthful spirit of love, and Lee wouldn't know good dating advice if it danced naked in front of him and bit him on his green spandex clad butt. Hiashi would have flipped, Tenten was busy announcing that he wasn't gay, and he wasn't about to go near the subject with Naruto. He couldn't ask Shikamaru, of course- "Hey, Shikamaru, care to tell me how to romance your ex-fiancée?". That's when he thought about Hinata's team. Kiba was too much of a playboy for Neji's tastes, but Shino had managed a couple of dates.

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"So… can you give me your advice?" Neji asked.

"I will impart to you the three most important dating secrets of all time," Shino had said very seriously. Neji leaned forward to hear them.

"Rule number one- treat her as if she's the only girl that matters. This includes two parts. You have to make sure you don't look at any other girls. And I mean any other girls. If Miss Konoha herself walks in the room, you just look at your date. Don't praise any other girl. If you have to mention another girl, make sure you talk about how troublesome she is, especially if you have to meet her. You say something along the lines of 'I know it's bothersome, but I got roped into promising to go'. And you also have to complement her. Girls love being complemented. But stick to complements about what she's wearing, her eyes, and her hair. You have to feel out what's okay to complement and what isn't," Shino explained seriously.

"Rule number two- If you make promises, you can't break them. You have to be a man of your word and earn a girl's trust. And if you have to break a promise, you have to swallow your pride and simply apologize. If they want an excuse, they'll ask for one, but otherwise don't offer one. Just say sorry and admit it was stupid of you. And then give her time to cool off. And, especially, don't promise to call her if you won't."

"Rule number three- the most important rule of all. Now I doubt your relationship has progressed this far, but keep this in mind for the future. If a girl tells you her feelings, and you reciprocate them, then you have to say so. That means that when a girl says 'I love you' you have to say 'I love you too', not 'ditto', not 'I know', not even 'me too'. You have to say the whole thing. But this only applies if you actually do care for the girl. If you lie about your feelings, it always ends very badly," Shino finished.

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But Shino hadn't mentioned anything about awkward silences. Somehow, Neji doubted that any silence was awkward to Shino. He cleared his throat.

As he was about to say something, the waitress came back to the table. He tried not to look at her, but as she was… er… flaunting herself, it was hard not to. He ordered quietly and looked away. He saw the waitress glare at Ino before stalking off.

When she thought he wasn't looking, Ino stuck her tongue out at the waitress's back. When she saw him watching her, she shrugged and smiled.

"So…"

"So…"

"So tell me how Hanabi's doing. She's Chunin now, right?" Ino asked.

"Yes. She made Chunin in the last test. She's doing fine. She trains much of the time," Neji said.

"Oh. So she's really serious about her training?"

"Yes. In her way. I think that she's somewhat resentful that she was born second. I think she believes that she would be a better head."

"You know, everyone makes that mistake," Ino said, sipping at her drink.

"What mistake?"

"Of underestimating Hinata. I can read between the lines. Hanabi thinks that Hinata is weak. So does everyone. They all generalize. Hinata's delicate. That doesn't mean she's not strong. I think it's just that instead of expecting her not to yield, they should see she's more suited to bending to avoid breaking. It's like the grass. The willow looks down on the grass, but when the strong wind blows, it's the willow that breaks, not the grass."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, what, I'm not allowed to make up wise sayings or something?" Ino teased.

"I'm not going to answer that."

"Why not?"

"Because I heard about the time you were insulted by Kiba and he ended up in a dress."

"Which time?"

"It happened more than once?"

"Yes. There was that time he insulted my hair, and the time he insulted my intelligence, and the time, of course that I used his body in my oh-so-evil scheme to hook up Naruto and Hinata," Ino grinned wickedly. "The Shintenshin has many uses."

"My point exactly," Neji's lip twitched into the almost-smile again.

By the time their dinner came, they were deep in conversation, much to the chagrin of the waitress. She set down the plates and then stomped away. You had to appreciate her anger- it's hard to stomp in a kimono.

"-and then she ended up doing this really brilliant spin, and she managed to catch it, but since she was standing on the table, she got her foot twisted in the table cloth and sent everything flying. There was a chopstick embedded in the wall three inches from my face." Ino finished.

Neji looked amused. Ino looked at his expression and smiled. This was the best first date she'd ever had. And mind you, she'd had a few. The waitress returned to slam the check down on the table and stalked off to another table.

They ended up going Dutch and then taking a walk around a nearby park. They were almost the only people there, except for a brown-haired girl sitting by the fountain and playing a flute. They sat down to listen, and the girl caught Ino's eye. She smiled and winked and put a finger to her lips, then started playing again.

"Do you know her?" Neji asked.

Ino shrugged. "I feel like I should, but… I can't place her" she thought for a moment. "Oh, right, she's a waitress at the barbeque Asuma always took us to."

"Oh."

They listened for a few more minutes. Then Ino looked in the other direction. "Hey! Do you smell that?" she asked.

"What?"

"It's baked potatoes! Look, there's a cart up there!" Ino said, grabbing his hand without thinking. She pulled him up to the cart and said to the man pushing it "Two potatoes, please!"

"We just ate," Neji rolled his eyes and nearly smiled. Ino paid and gave Neji a potato. They started to walk away when someone called "Ino?"

She turned around to see Chouji. "Hey, Chouji! What are you doing here?". Neji nodded politely at him. He had a lot of respect for Chouji after the they went on the Sasuke-retrieval mission.

Chouji looked down and kicked at a pebble. Ino noticed that he was holding two baked potatoes. She raised an eyebrow. He looked away. "What are you doing here, Ino?"

She jerked her head at Neji and raised her pinky. Chouji nodded his head and said "Me too," and then waved goodbye. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ino smiled.

"Aw, Chouji's gotten all grown up on me. I can't believe he has a girlfriend. How cute," she elbowed Neji. They wandered around the park for a little while longer, and then Neji walked her back to the Hokage's tower, where she was still staying.

"Thanks for coming with me," she said, pausing at the door. She beamed at him. She caught his eye with a questioning look and moved towards him, and then moved back. Definitely too much to hope for on the first date. Ino sighed. She turned to open the door.

"I had a good time too," Neji said. Then very lightly and respectfully he planted a kiss on her forehead. She flushed and gave him a peck on the cheek. Then she waved "goodnight" and opened the door. He walked away. She waited until she was on the second floor before jumping up and pumping her arm in a victory dance.

"KYA! YES! YES, YES, YES! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OHMIGAWD!" she squealed. Then she skipped to the room she and Maya were sharing.

"Onee-chan? Is that you?" Maya asked groggily when Ino shut the door. Ino grinned and nodded. Maya rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Did you have a good time?"

"Mmm. Yep. I had a very good time." Ino smoothed Maya's hair down and tucked her back in bed. Maya smiled sleepily.

"I'm glad. Tsunade-sama left the details of the mission to Ashura-sensei's house over there, on the desk. She said to look them over. We're supposed to go at the end of the week."

"Okay, Maya. You get to sleep." Ino sat down at the desk and started to read the mission debriefing. Kakashi was leading it. She and Neji were coming along and so was…

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"Sakura?" Kakashi knocked on his former student's door. She opened it.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing? Here, come inside," Sakura opened the door. He held out his hand.

"No, that's not it. The Hokage has assigned you a mission. You're to report to her office immediately."

"Oh, okay," Sakura said. "What type of mission?"

"It's an A-rank. You'll be going with me, another Jonin, and a Chunin. It'll take three weeks to reach our destination. You're going to want to pack right now" Kakashi said. Sakura nodded and ran back to get her things.

Half an hour later they were at the Hokage's office door. Sakura yawned and stretched. Kakashi tapped on the door.

"Come in," Tsunade said. Kakashi pushed the door open slowly. As he did, Sakura dropped her pack.

It was like Sasuke was back. Maya had taken to dressing in the same type of shirt, the same white pants, as Sasuke had. At the right angle, it was like seeing him again.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Maya grinned.

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Ashura: OMG WTF GIRL PARTS D:

Smack Quiet, fool. Your intro isn't until next chapter. Hello readers! It truly makes me happy to know there are so many of you out there. And you all better read the sequels! Anyways, I feel the need to explain a few things…

1. Itachi in the teahouse: He does seem like that type of guy, ne? The type to visit teahouses and chat with Geisha and stuff. Anyways, this whole little exchange takes place in Yuki no Kuni. And I shall fill the few of you who read the A/N on what the hell was going on. When Itachi was roughly fourteen, he wandered into Yuki no Kuni. He got lost in a blizzard and stumbled onto Yuki's teahouse, and he became her patron after he kept visiting. But they aren't really what one could call cordial, oh no. Yuki wants Itachi dead. Because he reminds her of her lover who went crazy and killed their daughter. Why Itachi continues to visit is a mystery. Probably to annoy her. Who knows… Yuki ain't mine, by the way. She belongs to my sister. I just put her in here to encourage my sister's as of yet unwritten fanfiction, about Itachi and Yuki's bitchy conversations. Yuki knows Kisame too, and she likes him better than her so called "Patron". Itachi never ends up paying her… cheap bastard…

2. Please, for the love of god, don't take my dating advice seriously… It's all fairly sound, but please have a little common sense as to where you get your advice… I'm just about as bad as Lee in that area… maybe a little better, but not much.

Thanks for reading. Now review!


	11. Chapter 11

Hello loves! I just posted two new fanfictions, so check 'em out if you have time! One is called Seven Deaths: Tales of the Jinchuuriki (Guess what that one's about) and the other is called Karma (It's about Kotetsu and Izumo, who wake up one day to find that Kotetsu's little sister has abandoned her children on their doorstep) which I am co-writing with my sister. I haven't told anyone wise about it until now. (). Sorry, Kyiri. Anyways, read! Tis Ashura's intro.  
**Chapter 11**

"…Urk… what all did I drink last night? Hopefully not all that peach stuff, I just got some from Xi Wang Mu…"

…

"OI! MORIO! I NEED SOME WATER!" …Oh, right… He'd gone down the mountain to visit his sick mother…

"Renjiro?" …Oh… yes, he was the traitor… damn him… how dare he run off with one of Xi Wang Mu's fairies…

"Kintaro? Manzo?" …Ran off together on a month long vacation…

"Rinji? Saburo? Takashi? Anyone? Anybody?" …Rinji, the klutz, had broken arm… Saburo was on an errand for two weeks… and Takashi had the flu, and it was catching.

"Shut UP, Ashura…" Jiraiya said groggily, in a voice that confirmed that he was hung over.

Ashura sat up, blinking… well, it could be worse… his eyes didn't quite feel like they had been nailed into their sockets, and the light didn't leave him for dead, just a bit stunned. He felt around until he found the jug of water he kept in the main room. Then he drained it.

"Aw, gods… what happened last night, Jiraiya? I can't remember anything…" He asked.

"Shut up… It's too loud." Jiraiya rolled over to face the wall. Ashura scowled.

"YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE! BE POLITE! WHAT HAPPENED?" Ashura yelled, leaving Jiraiya cringing.

"You have the sensitivity of… well…me…" Jiraiya muttered. "Mm… we got really drunk… and you told the story about that time you were drinking with Zabuza and messed with his student and got your arms broken for about the millionth time, and then we did our routine, and then I complained about the utter lack of breast-age on this god-forsaken place, because those girls you had over last night were cute, but absolutely tiny… and then I came onto one of them… and then I blacked out" He sat up to reveal a bruise that covered half his face.

Ashura stood up, a bit wobbly, and found his way to the first aid kit. There he took out two bottles of hangover medicine. He gulped one down himself and threw the other one at Jiraiya. Ashura made a face at the bitter aftertaste and sat down at the low table in front of him. Then, noticing a letter sealed with a wax stamp that read "Gamble", he picked it up and opened it.

"Ashura,

Learn to address a letter properly. My name had never been, and will never be 'Tonadi'. That aside, I'm happy to report that I've found a suitable shrine maiden for you. The one who I have in mind is quite capable and a good match for you- you'll see when the two of you meet.  
I'll expect this shrine maiden to be treated as your student. You're to be a teacher to this one. And if you pull any of your perverted stunts, I'll make good my promise about pummeling for your little 'revelation'. You know the one I'm talking about.

Tsunade

P.S. Send the lazy perverted bastard home"

Ashura squealed. "Oh, Tsunade! You do care! I've got a new shrine maiden! Tra la la… Life is worth living again… and it's been awhile since I've had a student… 'oh, Ashura-sensei! No! We can't! It wouldn't be right! Oh…!' Eh heh… eh heh… Tsunade can't actually expect me to keep a promise like that… and it isn't even really a promise… I never agreed to it… I'll have to drag out those school uniforms… And she even said we'd be a good match! Kya! I'm soo excited!" Then he looked at Jiraiya. "She says that you have to get back home. And she called you a lazy, perverted bastard"

Jiraiya put a hand to his forehead dramatically and clasped his chest "My heart, though wounded, continues to beat. I'll survive" He sat up. "My hangover's mostly gone. Let's get back to drinking"

"Hot damn. I'm with you there. Can't let you go without a proper sendoff." Ashura said, producing sake from a cabinet in the wall.

"Kampai!"

X

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"I got the firewood. I'll take care of the fire now!" Maya said cheerfully. Kakashi ruffled her hair and smiled beneath the mask. She beamed in return and started to arrange the sticks in a cone shape.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Maya fanned on the new formed flame. Sakura smiled at her expression. She looked most like Sasuke when she concentrated on something.

It'd been a shock, of course. It wasn't every day that you got called into the Hokage's office and had a little girl shoved at you, while your ex-Jonin instructor explained that she was the niece of your traitor ex-teammate/crush (whatever Sasuke was to her) and she and her Inugami had been staying with your best friend, and had been found in a base belonging to the person who caused your traitor ex-teammate/crush to run off and become a traitor in the first place, and had been found by the cousin of the girl who was dating your other, not-traitor ex-teammate. Weirdness.

Not that Sakura had breathed a word of her feelings for Sasuke. None of which had changed. Maya-chan had enough to deal with for the time being. Still, it was nice to have a convenient source of flashbacks.

"C'mon, Maya. Let them handle the rest. We have to train, right?" Kakashi motioned. Maya nodded seriously. Akeko scampered after them, yipping.

He'd been having serious misgivings about teaching Maya the Chidori. Understandable ones. He'd only taught one other person- Sasuke. And he wasn't real eager to relive that experience. But Tsunade-sama had suggested it to him.

"Just teach her the basics. She'll pick up on it quickly"

Kakashi sighed. Maya looked at him curiously. He tried to grin at her, but her disapproving look told him she didn't buy it. He sighed and plopped down on a log, inviting her to sit with him. Akeko jumped up next to him.

"Are we going to meditate? To increase our mental capacity?" Maya asked, scuffing her shoes in the dirt, not sitting down. Kakashi shook his head.

"Not right now. We're just going to talk." Kakashi said.

"Okay" Maya's mismatched eyes held his gaze seriously.

"Maya, you know about your uncle, right?"

"Hai." She looked down. "I miss him. I wish…" she stopped.

"I understand. He's your only family" Kakashi looked away.

"Oh, that's not true! I do have a family still. I have Ino-onee-chan and Neji-nii-chan and Iruka-oji-chan and Tsunade-baa-chan and Sakura-nee-chan. And I guess if Neji is my nii-chan then Hinata is my nee-chan, even if we've never met face to face. And Naruto is my nii-chan too. He was on Sasuke-oji-chan's team. So he's my nii-chan. And so are you. Since you won't let me call you my oji-chan, you have to be my nii-chan. Even though I didn't live in Konoha very long, it's still my home. And I have more siblings than I know what to do with now." Maya said. "And when I come back, I can meet Ino-nee-chan's team, and Neji-nii-chan's team, and their teachers, and I'll have an even bigger family." Kakashi smiled.

"That's true, I guess." He said. "But is that all you want to do after you get back from Ashura's? Meet Ino-chan and Neji-kun's teams?"

Maya shook her head. "Nope. I have dreams for the future."

"Like what?"

Maya shook her head.

"C'mon. I won't make fun of you or anything" Kakashi coaxed.

"…Konoha is my home… I love it, and I love the people in it. But… I lived in Oto for eight years… two thirds of my life. I had a best friend… and someone who I maybe loved… and people who treated me like family there. They're all gone… they sacrificed themselves for Orochimaru. All any of them wished for was to be wanted. I don't have any loyalty to Orochimaru anymore. But I want… it's my wish…" Maya stopped. "Are you sure you won't laugh?"

"Positive" Kakashi said.

"I want there to be peace… between my home and the place where I spent eight years of my life. I want to be able to do that." She smiled wistfully.

If a clanless brat could marry the Hyuuga heir and become Hokage… if a frail girl who had never believed in her own worth could find the courage to stand by her precious person… if a Kunoichi who had nothing more than boys on her mind could grow up to become a better medic than the Godaime… if a boy from the branch family could mend the rift between the main house and the branch house… if a clueless blonde could melt the Hyuuga genius's heart…

Then why the hell not?

"That's a great dream, kiddo" Kakashi smiled. Maya looked down, blushing.

"And, of course, I want to protect my loved ones… and I want to bring back Sasuke-oji-chan." Maya added in a muffled voice.

"Of course." Kakashi agreed. Then he hesitantly added "…But…"

"Yes?"

"You don't want revenge?"

Maya looked down. "I've seen my life destroyed… once by ambition… once by curiosity… once by greed. I don't have any desire to ruin it again for revenge." She replied "I want to protect the people that matter to me… all of you. And look how Sasuke-oji-chan hurt all of you. Revenge takes you and destroys something inside you. You keep hurting yourself and everyone else around you, until you become what you thought you were destroying. You're all alone. You haven't won. Everything is meaningless. And that's how you live the rest of your life. Revenge may be sanctified, but it's selfish"

"Where'd you learn that?" Kakashi asked.

"From Sasuke-oji-chan… and… from this" she tapped her right eyelid, and when she opened her eye again, he saw the Mangekyo. Then her eye reverted to it's original form. She smiled shyly.

Kakashi made his decision. "Alright, Maya-chan. I'm going to teach you a new move. It's super secret, a last resort, and only Uchiha can learn it. And it can't be used against friends, or for revenge. It's to protect those who are precious to you. Are you up for it?"

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" Maya saluted. He winked.

"From now on, you can call me Kakashi-oji-chan." He said.

Maya looked ecstatic. "Really?"

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"What have you two been doing? Maya, you're filthy! And your poor hands" Ino exclaimed. Maya hid her hands behind her back. Ino rolled her eyes. "Sakura, could you take a look at this?"

Sakura smiled and took Maya's hands. Her eyes turned serious. "Maya, these are chakra burns." She enveloped both their hands in a healing green light, and then turned to her teacher. "What were you two learning?". She already knew the answer. There wasn't any other type of technique that could inflict that type of damage on the hand, plus the chakra burns were fairly even and extended far beyond the range of damage for anything like the Rasengan.  
"I was teaching her the Chidori" Kakashi admitted. Suddenly everything was quiet. No one said anything for a minute. Then Neji, painfully aware of the scar left on his shoulder, asked "Well, is she a good student?".

"Yes. She's a very diligent learner." Kakashi said.

"Of course she is." Ino grinned at Maya. "I wouldn't expect anything less than that from someone who calls me Onee-chan." Maya blushed happily. "And now our little diligent learner needs a bath. We do too, Sakura-chan. Come on, let's get our towels, there's a hot spring pretty close by."

"Right" Sakura nodded.

As the three girls walked off together, Kakashi pulled out his perverted book and pretended to read it, while secretly studying Neji's face.

"Your Byakugan… have you ever…" Kakashi could tell Neji was listening, even though his white eyes were averted. "Have you ever been tempted to… you know…?"

"No" Neji said firmly.

How boring. Kakashi picked up his book again and started to read.

X

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It took two weeks all in all to reach Feng Huang no Yama, the mountain Ashura lived on. On the very last day of their travels, Maya figured out the limits of her Chidori.

"So you can only do it once?" Ino asked. Maya nodded, peeling off the band aid on her chin. Sakura rolled her eyes and slapped her hand softly.

"Don't pick at it" Sakura scolded. Maya pretended to look ashamed and then rolled her eyes.

"Yes. I can only do it once. It's weird. It's like I could do it one and a half times, but the Chidori isn't really something you can do a half a time. But that means I still have some chakra left after I use it. So I don't get tired like Kakashi-oji-chan." Maya explained.

"Well, girls' chakra levels usually peak when they're thirteen or fourteen. So you'll probably be able to do it two or three times if you keep working. Even I can't use it more than four times a day." Kakashi said. Maya nodded.

Ino and Neji stayed a bit behind the other three, side by side. They didn't talk, and didn't show any overt sign of the newfound affection between them, but their hands caught each other loosely, barely touching.

They watched Maya chat happily and thought about how much things had changed. If Neji hadn't brought her back to Konoha…

If he had listened to the soldier side of him and killed her…

They would still, in all likelihood, hate each other.

Ino would still be depressed after breaking up with Shikamaru.

Neji would never have that memory of his "Bushin"

They would have never gone on that date (which was followed by another two days later. Neji had asked to "repay" her for the baked potato)

Ino's apartment would still be whole.

They wouldn't be here, in the bright, cold mountain air. Neji would be training or on a mission or alone in his room or possibly stalking Hinata and Naruto on another date. Ino would be trying to forget her failed marriage plans, in her undamaged apartment.

Ino wouldn't be looking ahead, a slight blush creeping over her cheeks as she watched Maya make a face at Kakashi.

Neji wouldn't be beside her, trying to match his step to hers, guiding her slightly over roots and rocks.

The slight mist dissipated as suddenly as it had appeared, and even Kakashi seemed to be having trouble moving quickly in the thin oxygen.

Then a huge red gate, like the ones in front of temples, rose up before them, flanked by two enormous trees that were probably older than Konoha by a good century or two. The trees had wards on shimenawa around their trunks.

"Ah. We're here." Kakashi said happily. "This way!"

They walked through the gates and up a path to what looked like a combination of a temple and a noble's house. It had a large, eight story pagoda with red tiles, and there was an east and a west wing jutting off from the sides. There were also what looked like hot springs nearby, as well as a beautiful old pine tree.

"WOW! This place is beautiful!" Ino said.

Maya nodded her head in agreement.

They started up towards the main house after a few more admiring glances. Even Kakashi, who had been there before, seemed slightly awed. They were almost at the porch before they saw the ornate doors swing open.

"Who goes there? I am Ashura of the Suzaku clan, monk of Feng Huang no Yama!"

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Gaara sighed as he put on his official Kazekage robes on. He smoothed them down for the forth time, and then he put on his hat.

To borrow his soon-to-be brother-in-law's catchphrase, this whole thing was troublesome. He adjusted his hat again.

Not that he was fidgeting.

Godaime Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara did not fidget.

It was an honor for the Kazekage to sit in at a wedding. And his older sister deserved it, even though she'd lost her head with Shikamaru. And Shikamaru had seemed so respectable before. Gaara sighed.

He looked himself over again and left the dressing room. There was just this wedding before the mission to Iwa, which he was leaving for tonight, while the newlyweds would be going to Konoha for a second reception, after the first one in Suna. Gaara went to go sit on the chair reserved for the Kazekage before everyone filed in.

Shikamaru's parents were there, of course, and Kankuro, who was sitting by Baki. Kurenai and Asuma were also there, Kurenai holding their second child, Zoki. His sister, Miho, was looking around in awe, red eyes wide. Choji was there too, along with Tenten. The priest performing the marriage was already standing on the stage, in front of the shrine that had been constructed for the wedding. Gaara's chair was on a platform that was a few crucial inches higher, behind the stage.

It was completely silent as the doors swung open noiselessly. Shikamaru and Temari walked in together. Shikamaru wore a plain black kimono over hakama, with the Nara family crest on the back. Other than that, he looked the same as usual.

Temari looked beautiful. She was wearing a Shiromuku kimono with a train. Her hair was down, beautiful and smooth and golden against the pale white of her kimono. She'd tied her Hitai-ate around her obi, as if saying that she was still a ninja, even on the most important day of her life. The light blue obi didn't disguise the bump that was just beginning to show.

The kimono itself had been contributed by none other than Nara Yoshino herself. Tenten had later called it predictable, but every male who had witnessed the first dinner between the Sand siblings and the Nara family had been stunned when it turned out that Yoshino and Temari HATED each other. That night had ended with a whole lot of plates broken, Yoshino's cries that her first grandchild would grow up to be a freak with a mother like that, and Temari cursing creatively for half an hour afterwards. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had hated each other pretty much since first sight. But, with time, their mutual hostility had faded to something like a truce. And it had only been two days before that Yoshino had given her daughter-in-law the wedding kimono that had been worn by the Nara clan's brides since the founding of Konoha. And in a crazed hormone-fest, the two ended up sobbing and hugging each other.

Shikamaru helped Temari up the steps, and she smiled. Then they turned to face the priest. As the priest purified Shikamaru in preparation for marriage, Temari winked and grinned at her younger brother, who hesitantly returned the smile. Then the priest turned to her and began to pray over her, sprinkling her with water.

After the priest declared them both pure in body and spirit, he began to recite the duties of a wife to a husband, and the duties of a husband to a wife. Temari listened serenely as the priest blathered on. Then she turned to Shikamaru in order to say her vow of commitment.

"I vow always to love and cherish my husband, to show tender respect to him, to protect him" she smiled briefly where she had changed "obey" to "protect" and then continued after sufficient emphasis "and to care for him. I will not stray from him in difficult times or in plentiful times. I will honor his family and his country, as is fitting. I enter this marriage for the sake of love, and as such am bound to my husband, body and soul. I will not forsake this sacred bond, despite the hardships, the tears, the pain, that may come our way. I enter into this marriage freely and of my own will and will keep it, in hard times and in good times, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of peace and in times of war, in times of poverty and times of wealth. This do I vow, as formerly Temari, Yondaime Kazekage's daughter, and now as Nara Temari, of Konoha's Nara clan."

Shikamaru squeezed her hand. At this point Kankuro was sobbing, and Tenten was trying to simultaneously pat him on the back and shut him up.

The priest turned to Shikamaru "And in entering the sacred bond of marriage, what do you vow?"

"I vow always to love and cherish my wife, to show tender respect to her, to protect and obey her, and to care for her. I will not stray from her in difficult times or in plentiful times. I will honor her family and her country, as is fitting. I enter this marriage for the sake of love, and as such am bound to my wife, body and soul. I will not forsake this sacred bond despite the hardships, the tears, the pain, that may come our way. I enter into this marriage freely and of my own will and will keep it, in hard times and in good times, in times of sickness and times of health, in times of peace and in times of war, in times of poverty and in times of wealth. This do I vow, upon my own honor as Nara Shikamaru, of Konoha's Nara clan, now Nara Shikamaru, husband of Nara Temari." He finished.

By that time Yoshino was crying, Tenten's eyes were sparkling, and Kankuro's makeup, which he'd worn despite the occasion and with his fancy kimono, was running down his face.

Then there was the ritual drinking of sake, which was basically the reason that the wedding was being held in Suna. It had a lower drinking age than Konoha.

"And in the presence of those now gathered here, I do pronounce you husband and wife, lawfully bound and married." The priest said. "May your marriage be fruitful and blessed."

As they turned around, Gaara heard Temari whisper "No need to worry about that, ne?" in her husband's ear, and Shikamaru's low chuckle, right before the newlywed couple was pounced upon by the watchers.

Gaara had promised to be there for the first reception, "Temari's reception" which was to be held in Suna. This one was the bigger one, and the more formal, as everyone of any importance wanted to be there to congratulate the daughter of the old Kazekage and sister of the new one. The one in Konoha would mainly be for Shikamaru's family and friends who hadn't been at the wedding.

Temari had to change at breakneck speed into another kimono, this one red with fireflies on it. Then they were rushed outside, to the lobby of the hotel the ceremony had been preformed in, to receive their well wishers.

Among the first in line was the Daimyo of Kaze no Kuni, followed by the Heir apparent of the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni and his Fiancée. There were also many notable ninja and courtiers, Gaara's advisors, ambassadors (one of whom was dressed like a schoolgirl, despite the formal wear required by the occasion. This ambassador hugged Temari fiercely and then sped off to find Kankuro), and others.

After all the presents and congratulations were accepted, some of the guests preformed for the couple, and then the meal was served. Gaara had to sneak off in the middle of the third course to be able to leave for Iwa, but his cast a last look at his sister. Who was giggling madly as Shikamaru planted a kiss on her lips.

Ugh. Newlyweds.

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It was fun to write Gaara for once. Kyaa! He's so cute… sigh. Anyways, I put him in here because he plays a pretty big part in the sequel. Plus this opens up room for a side story! Yay! Finally, a way for me to express my inner Gaara-fan girl! It's supposed to be based around the Jinchuuriki, but it's gonna be mainly about Gaara. Check it out if you have the time. It's going to be called "Seven Deaths". It should be up by now.

I was really unsure about how to write the wedding. I'm not an expert on these things, sadly enough. But Google and Wikipedia are magical gods that make life worth living and get my fanfictions written. But magical gods though they are, they are bound to make some mistakes, as am I, and I apologize for any mistakes in the whole wedding scene.

Another thing! (Time to drag out my love of mythology) Ashura mentions Xi Wang Mu not once but TWICE. Who is she? Not an OC, but a Chinese Goddess. She tends her peaches, which grow for 3,000 years, and have to ripen for another 3,000 and is attended by her Jade Fairies. In this story, it's pretty much the same deal. She and Ashura are buddies (because of his clan's mythical connections), and they drink together. She also loves hot boy on boy action, which Ashura, playboy that he is, provides with pleasure for her special sake. This sake is made from the nectar of her peach trees and flavored with a couple of drops of oil from her peaches' skin. Yummy, but gives you a killer hangover.

Anyways, thanks to all my lovely readers, but review! I'm not posting the last chapter until I have 25 reviews. You could make the difference! Go review! NOW!


	12. Chapter 12

To all, I want to say I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING SOONER! I've been on a twelve day road trip, and trying to work on everything at once, deciding to update everything all at once (failure), and then I went to my grandma's… but thanks for being all supportive-like. Speaking of which….

Thanks so much to:

Trueturbo Drake-Azathoth fictionalfact death.is.purple wIthOUt A nAmE Lems Hyuuga-Neji-sama kosumi Jeredu Frontier of Darkness ShinigamisScythe SetosGirl101 Ivellios

for reviewing!

Thanks to:  
CrystalSoul Jutsu death.is.purple Drake-Azathoth Hyuuga-Neji-sama Kyiri Makrono Lifethane school-hater93 Setosgirl101 ShinimegamisScythe Trueturbo Ivellios

for putting me on your favorites!

Thanks to:

Drake-Azathoth fictionalfact Hawkeye-chan hiei's hime 2 Hlomondodeli Majoribanks Hyuuga-Neji-sama Kyiri Makrono Lems Manic-Madeca Setosgirl101 ShinimegamisScythe Tensai Seko Ivellios

for putting me on your alerts list!

Thanks to:

Drake-Azathoth Hyuuga-Neji-sama Setosgirl101 ShinegamisScythe Ivellios

Special thanks to Frontier of Darkness for being my first reviewer!

Special thanks to ShinigamisScythe because I made you review twice! (And for being the 25th reviewer!)

Special thanks to Ivellios for being my 26th reviewer (oops. I meant to post sooner)

Special thanks to Lems for linking Purity of White to the NejIno deviant art page

And gaint, fireworks-at-Disneyland-on-new-year's-eve-and-twelve-hot-male-asian-models-and-ridiculous-ammounts-of-pop-rocks-and-a-Gaara-plushie Super Special thanks to Kyiri Makrono! She was so awesome about everything, and really, really fast at editing. Plus we exchanged numerous emails that made me very happy. Which is why she is my favorite beta.

Also thanks to my little sister Aka who read everything I wrote, sometimes before anyone else, and for occasionally testing me by inserting random sections of Ashura doing silly things to his shrine maidens, keeping me up to scratch.

THANKS TO ALL UNNAMED READERS! (All roughly 80 of you) I'd thank you personally, but you didn't leave reviews, so I can't. D: Sorry. I love you anyhow. 3,004 HITS, ALL OF WHICH YOU ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE!

I hope you keep reading, since there's going to be a sequel, "Only For That Day", and stick around for the sneak preview of it after the epilogue.

Please, please leave reviews for this chapter. I want to know what you thought, what you liked, what you didn't, who you want to see more of, who you don't want to see again, and any ideas you might have. I'll take all of them into consideration.

And sorry about Ashura taking over, but this is his only real chapter, and he's become completely unmanageable, what with his temper-tantrums over not having enough screen time. Everyone should spend time having things mentally thrown at you by figments of your imagination. :)

THANK YOU!

Chapter 12

"Who goes there? I am Ashura of the Suzaku clan, monk of Feng Huang no Yama!"

The small group, except for Kakashi, looked up. Kakashi was too busy shaking his head.

The man currently posed in the doorway in front of them was pretty, to say the least. His kimono was hanging off his shoulder, exposing a well muscled chest. His three eyes were staring directly at them, one white, one red and one purple. His hair looked strange, like it was made out of feathers. One wispy end fell onto his forehead. His hair itself was red in color, with golden touches. And when he went to adjust his sleeve at the shoulder, they saw that he had the thinnest wrists any of them had ever seen.

This dignified image was immediately shattered when Kakashi sighed and said wearily "It's me, Hatake Kakashi, come with a group. Tsunade-sama sent us."

Ashura's expression changed instantly when he heard Kakashi's voice. "Kashi-chan, is that you? Oh my gods! It's been so long! Have you come back for some more #$ and a little &$ and maybe some #?"

Maya's ears were ringing from where Neji, Sakura and Ino had all slammed their hands over her ears.

Ashura continued on, all three eyes now closed. "Kashi-chan, it's been forever since you last visited! Why are you here? Tsunade-hime sent you? Why would she do that- KYA! My shrine maiden's here, isn't he? WHERE WHERE WHERE?" Ashura squealed. As he moved forward a bit, he tripped-

-and fell face down into the dirt. "AGH! How embarrassing! Oh Nooo! My little shrine maiden must think I'm such a klutz!" he looked up-

And fastened himself onto Neji. "OH MY GODS! I LOVE TSUNADE-HIME! Kashi-chan, tell her that! I love her! This is BETTER than glasses! And he meets the pretty hair requirement! KYAA! I love her! Aishiteru, Tsunade-hime!" then he peered at Neji, "Ooh! She sent me a Hyuuga to teach! How wicked of her! How very, very naughty! Now, my little student, can you say 'please teacher'?"

As Ino strained to keep her last shred of sanity intact, Kakashi pried Ashura off of Neji and set him on the porch. "Listen, Ashura no baka."

"Aw, Kashi-chan, are you jealous?" Ashura asked coyly.

"Listen, damnit. Neji-kun ISN'T your student." Kakashi said. Ashura looked at him for a second before bursting into tears.

Kakashi allowed Ashura thirty seconds of mourning. And then he did… something… so fast that no one had time to notice exactly what it was.

Ashura burst into flames. A six foot tall flaming column replaced him. The fire burned out, and there was only a pile of ashes where Ashura had been.

And then there was a rustling noise in the ashes, and then a "fwump", and Ashura stood before them again, fine except for his charred kimono and a smudge of ash on his cheek.

"I HATE YOU, KASHI-CHAN!"

"Are you going to listen, or are you going to make me do it again?" Kakashi asked in a low and dangerous voice. Ashura threw him a sulky glare.

"I'll listen" he said sullenly.

"Good. As I was saying, Neji-kun isn't your student. Maya-chan is" Kakashi dusted off his hands and then pushed Maya towards him. Maya bowed low, and looked him straight in the eyes as she rose again.

Ashura jumped up on the porch, stomped to the door and slammed it shut without a word. They could clearly hear Ashura throw himself on a pillow and start to sob.

"Ah, good. That means he'll take her on. He's just going to sulk for a while. We can unpack. He has extra rooms in the west wing. Let's go" Kakashi sighed.

Everyone kept their stunned silence as Kakashi led them to a door on the west side of the house. They found five empty rooms at the very end of the hall. After they'd each picked a room, Kakashi said "Alright, I'll do the house overview, since Ashura's too busy sulking. The kitchen is in the main house, on the first floor. You can pretty much follow your nose to it. If you take this hall all the way down, then take the very last right, you'll find the dining room. Under the stairs, there's a door to the kitchen. The hot springs are all alright for bathing. Neji, just make sure Ashura's not around. Trust me on that one. We'll stay until we see that Maya is getting the training she deserves from Ashura. Until then, try to enjoy yourself."

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"So, Akeko, you have to be good until Ashura-sensei takes us on. You weren't very good at Ino-onee-chan's house."

"Yip!"

"Well, you weren't! Anyways, we're going to get up early and do some serious training tomorrow, okay?"

This time Akeko yipped in agreement. Maya smiled. "That's right. Now let's get to bed, alright?"

She turned off the light off and snuggled up to Akeko. It wasn't long until she fell asleep.

The next morning she snuck out of bed while everyone else was still asleep. She got dressed silently and nudged Akeko awake. Together they slipped down the hall and out the door.

The sun was barely up when Maya started on her actual training (after her warm up- meditation, chakra molding, and 300 sit ups and push ups).

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!"

"Katon: Ryuka no jutsu!"

Maya flopped down, panting. It took a lot of chakra for the actual combustion, and then even more energy had to be fed into it to keep it going. She allowed herself half a minute of rest before jumping up to start again.

She was so focused on training that she didn't notice Ashura's eyes on her. He'd gotten up after a long night of recovering from sulking and felt like a bath. Now he was floating around in one of the hot springs, watching the bright flames flicker and dance in the early morning semi-darkness.

"Shura-chan, if you aren't careful, I'll steal your hagoromo. It's just too tempting" a woman's voice said, from behind him.

"Oi! Yu-chan! I haven't seen you in forever!" Ashura said excitedly, turning to see the ruler of Yuki no Kuni. Without his permission, she slipped her feet into the water.

"Yeah, yeah. I've been kind of busy filming Icha Icha Tactics and running a country. Unlike some perverted monk who drinks sake and takes hour long baths every day" Koyuki smiled wryly.

"What are you here for, Koyuki-chan?" Ashura asked.

"Just to visit an old friend"

"…Right…"

"Oh, don't be like that…"

"Geez, just tell me what you want" Ashura sighed "And turn around, I'm about to get out"

"Ooh, alright Mr. Suddenly Modest. Suit yourself" Koyuki stood up and turned around.

Ashura got out of the water and pulled on the robe hanging from the pine tree overhanging the water. He belted it loosely around his waist before turning around. "So what do you think of my prospective new student?" he asked, nodding at Maya, who was running through Jyuuken sets.

"She's talented. If you were anyone but yourself, I'd tell you to take her on. But you've never been responsible and you never will." Koyuki shrugged. "She's just a little girl"

Ashura sighed. "Oh ye of little faith"

"Anyways, there is something I have to ask you." Koyuki admitted. Ashura raised an eyebrow. "Oh, shove it. What I want to ask is what on earth has the Goddess of the Mountains to the West all riled up?"

"What do you mean?" Ashura asked.

"You know what I mean. She's killed twelve people in the last week." Koyuki said in a low voice.

"Fifteen" Ashura replied just as quietly.

"What?"

"Fifteen. Three men were found this morning. It was Her work, alright. They were killed in the middle of a blizzard and had their hearts ripped out. Two were brothers. The other one was the elder's fifteen year old son." Ashura said.

"…"

"…"

"How do you always manage to know this stuff before I do?" Koyuki sighed.

"I have eyes everywhere." Ashura shrugged. "As to why She's angry, maybe Her danna skipped off without paying again. It wouldn't be the first and it won't be the last time" Ashura said. "Or maybe it's because the Otokage tried to get his host back."

Koyuki glared at him "Don't pull this crap. Explain it to me right now." She demanded.

"You know that boy who helped you regain the throne?"

"The blonde?"

"No, not the blonde. The pretty boy. Uchiha Sasuke. He deserted Konoha nearly four years ago."

"That I knew. I do read the paperwork, you know"

"That's because you have no life. Anyways, he deserted to the Otokage so he could defeat Uchiha Itachi. Long story short, Orochimaru wanted Sasuke-kun for his body. But, seeing as Sasuke failed in obtaining a Mangekyo, Orochimaru decided to wait."

"Why didn't Orochimaru just gain the Mangekyo on his own time?"

Ashura laughed, "Koyuki-baka, Orochimaru has no friends!"

"Right…" Koyuki responded this time, a bit angered at having been called "baka".

"So when Sasuke-kun ran away, Orochimaru sent people after him, of course. And that's interfering with Her plans. She wants Sasuke-kun to succeed."

"…At what?" Koyuki coaxed.

"Killing his older brother." Ashura said nonchalantly.

"Oh… you know, it's times like these that make me wish that there were no hidden villages" Koyuki sighed.

"Oh, hai Yukikage-sama." Ashura teased.

"Don't call me that!" Koyuki cuffed him gently on the side of the head.

"Oh, do you prefer 'Harukage' then?"

"Oh, shut up"

They both watched as Maya continued practicing. She used some sort of Doton to construct a earthen target about six feet tall. Then she took a deep breath and yelled "Chidori!".

"Holy-" Ashura watched the electricity glimmer. "Bloody hell. I think I'm going to take her on"

"WHAT?"

"As a student."

"No, I got that, but… WHY? Why all of a sud-"

BOOM!

There was nothing left of the target. At all. They watched, both a little stunned as Maya flopped down to ground, breathing hard.

"That's why" Ashura said to Koyuki as she continued to stare, dumbfounded. He got up and walked over to Maya. She immediately jumped up and bowed to him.

"Hello, Ashura-sensei." Maya said respectfully.

"Hello, Maya-chan. Aren't you industrious?"

"Ano… I guess" Maya replied. "I'm sorry if I bothered you with my training."

"Not at all" Ashura grinned. He was starting to understand why Maya was a "perfect match" for him.

It was while he was musing on this that a huge mountain gale blew down the mountain. This caused his very loose robes to fly up. There was nothing underneath them. Maya just stared in dumbstruck horror.

And Ashura found himself the victim of an attempted drowning as Koyuki and Neji, who had appeared out of nowhere, dragged him over to the nearest hot spring and pushed his head under.

"Hello. May I enquire your name? I'm Koyuki, of Yuki no Kuni. You?"

"Hyuuga Neji, of the Hyuuga clan" Neji replied.

"Well, please forgive me for not shaking your hand. It'd be a bit hard to manage, given the situation." Koyuki responded just as brightly.

They carried on a very polite conversation over Ashura's struggling head. As Ashura finally managed to get his head above water, he sputtered "I could have died!"

"That was the general idea, yes" Koyuki agreed cordially.

Ashura coughed weakly and glared at her. "I hate you"

"I know you do"

"Well, help me up, then" Ashura demanded. Koyuki sighed and lifted him to his feet. Ashura decided that he didn't want Neji as his shrine maiden anymore, as the boy didn't help at all.

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"Nani?"

"You heard me, Kashi-chan. I said I'll take her on" Ashura said.

"Is that a promise?"

"Definitely." Ashura replied.

"That's funny. I had you pinned on another week, at least." Kakashi sighed. "I take it to mean that we're going to be drinking tonight because of this?"

"You know me so well. Of course we'll be drinking" Ashura replied.

"Twenty"

"Nani?"

"The drinking age is twenty."

"…And your point is?"

"…Right…" Kakashi picked up Icha Icha Violence, volume three, and continued to read.

"Aw, it's Jiraiya's book. Do you want to read mine?" Ashura asked cheerfully.

"No. I do not"

"That's no fun"

"Your idea of fun is wrong, Ashura. Half your shrine boys, at least, can't be legal"

"Legal, smegal… see if I care. It's all consensual."

"I hope someone strikes you with impotence"

"People have tried before. And failed"

"… I really, really didn't want to know that"

" Kukuku"

"Don't laugh like that"

"You're so boring"

"Sad but true."

"Aw… you're all domesticated now. The Kashi-chan I knew would have argued with me"

"I find it annoys you more this way"

"True, true"

"…"

"…"

"Sometimes I feel so old."

"Thirty's not old"

"Oh, right, well I guess you would know"

"What exactly are you implying?"

"That you're old"

"AM NOT!"

"Are too. And what's more, you're losing your touch."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, at your prime, you would have stolen Neji-kun in about ten seconds flat. Instead, you almost ended up being drowned by him"

"Shut up"

"Whatever."

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Maya finished moving her stuff into the room Ashura had assigned to her. It wasn't much different from the one she had been in, but it did have a huge window overlooking the front of the house. The window was now open, letting in a slight breeze.

Now that all of her clothes were in drawers, she could start on her pictures. Neji had given them to her the day after they left, saying that Tsunade had told him to give them back to her. Now she was bust putting them in frames.

And then there were also a few new pictures to add to her collection. A picture of Ino giving Neji a kiss on the cheek, another of Kakashi and Iruka, one of Sakura, a group picture of Kakashi, Sakura, Ino, Neji and herself, and one Ashura had given her of himself, Tsunade and Jiraiya. There was also a picture of team seven, that Kakashi had given her, saying he had an extra copy. And Tsunade had also dug through Konoha's records and found a few pictures of her parents.

When she had put the last picture up, she looked pleased with herself. Then she flopped back onto the bed.

"Hello. Are you Ashura-sama's new student?" a voice from the doorway asked.

Maya looked up to see a sickly looking boy standing just outside the door, maybe four or five years older than her.

"Um, hello. Yes, I'm Ashura-sensei's student. I'm Maya. And you are?"

"I'm Takashi. I'm one of his shrine maidens. Sorry I haven't been around. I've had the flu." The boy said.

"Oh. Alright. It's very nice to meet you." Maya smiled at him.

"Everyone's going to be very excited when they meet you. I don't remember Ashura-sama ever taking on a girl student"

"Really?"

"Yep. Anyways, if you need anything, you can tell me. I have six older sisters at home, and a little sister, too, so you can talk to me" Takashi said.

"So how did you end up here, Takashi-sempai?"

He smiled at her choice of honorific. "I used to live down the mountain from here. Most of the others came from around here too. I think Rinji came from Kusagakure, though. And Saburo is from Takigakure. Sometimes, as a favor, Ashura-sama takes on another shrine maiden. If someone needs a place to stay, or something. I came up here because my family is very poor, and I wanted to study art. Ashura sends money to my family for my services, and I'm able to learn many things here. Maybe I'll be able to help my village someday,"

"Oh. That's neat. I came here to train, since Ashura-sensei knows how to use Byakugan and Sharingan. The Hyuuga clan of Konoha wants me dead. They don't like the fact that there's a person with Byakugan outside of their clan." Maya replied.

"Ashura-sama has told me before that the Hyuuga clan dislikes him, much for the same reason." Takashi said.

Maya sighed and looked out the window. "Thank you, Takashi-sempai. I was worried about coming here. But now I'm a little happy" she smiled.

"Alright then, Maya-chan. I'll go then. It was very nice to meet you"

"You too"

He walked out the door, but abruptly turned back around. "Oh, yes, Maya-chan. I forgot to tell you, but Ashura-sama said to give this to you. We all wear hakama here" he said, tossing a package at her. She caught it midair, and he walked out the room, shutting the door behind him.

She opened the package, which was wrapped in paper, and looked at the hakama inside it. It looked well made and beautiful, but…

"I don't know how to put on hakama" Maya said, sweatdropping.

Five minutes later, she was outside Ino's door, knocking on it quietly. Ino slid it open. "Hey, kiddo. What can I do for you?"

Maya thrust the hakama out in front of her. "Ano… I don't know how to put it on…"

"Alright, I'll help you with it, okay?" Ino said, opening the door for her wider. Maya slipped inside.

Twenty minutes later, Maya was hopelessly tangled up in the fabric. Ino had never worn hakama either.

"Hold on just a second, Maya-chan. I'll get Neji. He should know how to put this thing on" Ino said, finally managing to untangle Maya.

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"You need to know how to put on what?"

"Hakama, Neji. You know how, don't you?"

"Yes, I know how, but why on earth do you need to?"

"Maya has to wear one"

"Why?"

"I don't know why"

"Alright" Neji sighed, leaving his room.

"Thank you" Ino said, smiling. Because there was no one around, she stood on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, Maya's in my room"

Neji nodded. "Alright then. You go in there and help her, and I'll give you instructions."

"What?"

"I can't go into a girl's bedroom, much less where a girl is changing."

"That's ridiculous!"

"No, it's courteous."

"Jeez, you" Ino said, rolling her eyes. Then she walked inside her room and shut her door behind her.

"Alright, the first thing you do is to put on the kimono. That goes under the hakama."

"Oh, okay. That makes more sense" Ino's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Do I even want to ask what you did before?"

"No"

"Alright, then. Are you done with the kimono now?"

"No! Hold your horses!"

"…"

Neji listened to the various rustling noises being made behind the door.

"Are you done now?"

"N- yes. Yes. It's on. Now what do we do?"

"Now what you do is…"

Neji finished his instructions and heard several noises that sounded like someone hopping up and down on one foot and then falling over. After a few more minutes, He heard Ino's voice again.

"Okay. Next?"

After thirty minutes and several more thumps, Ino slid open the door and presented Maya. "There. That's okay, right?"

"Actually, the hakama are inside out."

"Oh" Ino said in a voice that suggested she was about to start screaming. She shoved Maya back into the room and the whole thing repeated itself.

Finally, "About an hour and a half longer than it would have taken if SOMEONE had a few less morals" in Ino's words, Maya was dressed.

"Thanks, Neji-nee-chan" she said happily, swishing the bright red divided skirt. "I thought this was going to be really hard to walk in, but it's pretty easy to move"

"Yes. It's used in some martial arts" Neji explained. "As well for shrine maidens"

Sakura ran up to them then. "Hi. You look nice, Maya-chan. We're supposed to go to the main room now. Where have you guys been?"

"We've spent the last two hours trying to get Maya into hakama because Neji was too stubborn to actually come in the room" Ino replied.

"You should have just asked me. I know how to put them on" Sakura said. "My mom signed me up to dance at the local shrine when I was seven"

Ino made a slightly strangled sound. "…Well…" Ino couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Anyways, let's go. Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us" Sakura said.

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"To Maya-chan" Ashura said, on his sixth bottle of sake.

Just before they had gone to the main room, Kakashi had pulled them aside and warned them about Ashura.

"He likes to drink a whole lot, and I REALLY don't want to have to explain to Tsunade why I let you drink, so just wet your lips, okay?"

This was proving to be easier said than done. Ashura kept toasting things at random intervals. This was the third toast to Maya so far. He had also toasted "To new students" twice, "To hot guys", and "To being able to drink below the legal age!". There had also been about eight "Kampai!"s.

Everyone sighed and wet their lips again. Kakashi had been a little hypocritical, seeing as he was on his second bottle.

"I hope he gets horribly hung over tomorrow" Neji, Ino, Sakura and Maya all thought, glaring at Kakashi, who was telling a crude joke.

This thought would be repeated many, many more times during the evening, in such examples as:

Kakashi tells dead baby jokes

Kakashi recounts what happened between Ashura and him ten years ago, in detail

Kakashi reveals his secret love of cats

Kakashi drags out the photo album of horrible cosplay

Kakashi attempts to eat 100 dumplings

Kakashi throws up 99 dumplings

And many, many more.

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"My… head… it hurts…."

"Good"

"How can my own student be so cruel to be the enfeebled? You're a horrible medic"

"Do me the favor of not talking anymore." Sakura said. "Hold on" the green glow enveloped her hands.

After about ten minutes, Kakashi sat up. "Thanks. It feels a lot better"

"Well, don't drink again this week. If you do, the hangover will come back about twice as strong." Sakura replied.

"No way" Kakashi whined.

"Oh, it won't kill you" Sakura replied. "Besides, people who overindulge get no sympathy from me."

"…Uhn…" Kakashi flopped back onto the ground.

Maya smiled and rolled her eyes. She was finally starting her training under Ashura, and she was determined to do her best. But before her "family" left in two days, there was something she had to do. And it had to be done today.

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"Um, does it go like this? Am I stirring it right?"

"Yeah. That's really good, Maya-chan. Nice job. These are gonna be really tasty, right?"

"Yeah, yeah! This looks good."

"Silly, it isn't even cooked yet." Ino teased Maya. "Now we pour in the chocolate like this…"

"Like this… Ano, when are we gonna tell everyone else? Well, I mean, I KNOW when to tell Neji-nii-chan, but…"

"Ah, well, we'll tell 'em in a little bit, but I want these to get cooked first, okay?"

"Hai! Let's finish, then" Maya pulled up her sleeves.

"Oh, I found… urg… the karaoke machine… this is heavy…" Takashi said from the doorway, carrying the box. "And we can use the main room in the west wing. No one goes in there. I've got it all ready!" Takashi smiled. He had recovered from the flu thanks to Sakura and was now extremely friendly. Ino felt a bit better knowing that he'd be around to look after Maya.

"Great. Think Neji-kun will be willing to get up and sing?" Ino joked. Maya laughed into the bowl of chocolate she was holding.

"I'll go put this up then" Takashi offered.

"Domo. We're almost done with the fondant au chocolate." Maya grinned.

"Impatient. We still have time. Thanks, Takashi-kun." Ino winked. Takashi nodded and struggled out of the room.

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"Wait, why are we doing this? I mean, I don't mind that much, but is there a reason?"

"Duh! I don't cook fondant au chocolate for absolutely no reason, big forehead girl."

"Yes you do. What, are you mopey today?"

"NO! It's July 3rd!"

"And that's important WHY, Ino-pig?"

"I've already told you about half a million times"

"…?"

"Oh, Jeez! C'mon, use that big forehead of yours!"

"…?… Oh, right. Now I remember. Okay, I'll come, and I'll drag Kakashi-sensei there too, okay?"

"Yep! Nice. I knew I should have faith in your billboard brow. Be in the main room in the west wing at three. And remember, it's a surprise."

"Okay, miss piggy. Now go away"

"Right away, boss"

With a roll of her eyes, Sakura shut her door.

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"Mhm. So this is really, really, REALLY important?"

"Yes, Neji-kun, it is. It is super important."

"Why am I doubting this?"

"Because you have no faith in anything, silly"

"Or perhaps I simply lack faith in people who call me 'silly'."

"Jeez. Alright. It's in here" Ino rolled her eyes and slid open the door.

"SURPRISE!" Sakura, Kakashi, Maya, Takashi, Koyuki and Ashura jumped out as Ino flipped the light switch.

"Happy birthday, Neji-nii-chan" Maya grinned. She shyly held out a present.

Neji normally hated surprises. But he couldn't help smiling at this. Ino hugged him around the waist.

"Maya-chan thought all this up, so you better thank her." She said.

"Thanks, Maya-chan." He said, ruffling her hair. She grinned back at him.

"Don't you want your presents?" she asked.

"You bet" He replied, sitting down at the table in the center of the room. There was a small pile of presents stacked up in the middle.

"Open mine first" Maya demanded. Then she glanced at Ino. "Or Ino-onee-chan's… Whichever"

"He should open up yours first. It was your idea" Ino said, sitting on the other side of Neji. He gave her a tiny smirk. She smiled.

"Here you go, Neji-nii-chan" Maya handed him the box. "It isn't that good… sorry…"

He unwrapped it carefully, setting aside the paper. Then he opened the box lid to see a woven black and white bracelet.

"Um… Sorry… I made it myself…" Maya admitted.

"It looks great." Neji replied, tying it around his wrist. Maya smiled happily.

"Now Ino-nee-chan's present." Maya said, shoving a box at him. Ino nodded and smiled.

"You're really hard to shop for, you know that?" she winked.

He opened up the box to see a scroll. When he unrolled it, he saw that it was a painting of a bird flying free.

"Happy eighteenth birthday" Ino grinned.

"Thank you. It's beautiful."

Sakura gave him her present next. "They're the same type of gloves I use. It's made from a fabric that resonates with your chakra, so it's easier to pinpoint and direct it. I figured they'd be good for you, because of your Jyuuken."

Kakashi's present was "What every eighteen-year-old needs"- Icha Icha Paradise, volume one. There was a twitch in Neji's eye as he thanked Kakashi for it.

Koyuki, in the same frame of mind, gave him the movie on video. Sakura and Ino had to excuse themselves until they could be a bit more composed. When they finally came back, giggle-free, Ino revealed that she'd asked people to contribute to Neji's birthday presents before leaving Konoha.

Tenten had given him a dozen kunai from the best weapons maker in Konoha. Gai had given his annual gift of spandex. Lee had given him training weights. Chouji (he and Neji had become friends after the Sasuke retrieval fiasco) had supplied some of his clan's very best soldier pills.

Hinata had given him a batch of her ointment (even Sakura admitted it was on par with anything she or Tsunade could make) and a hard to find scroll of Jonin-level techniques. Hanabi contributed some of her own calligraphy. Hiashi had given Neji a very old scroll of Hyuuga history that most second hand bookstore owners would have given a bag of money, their dignity and a few fingers to possess.

And even Ashura gave Neji a present, which surprised almost everyone (Kakashi and Koyuki were willing to bet it was all for the sake of increasing the chance of being in Neji's pants). It was a necklace on a string of magatama (comma shaped beads). The whole necklace seemed to be made of rosewood, and Ashura said "It's made from the wood of the first tree cut down when Konoha was built. Supposedly. All the first high ups had them. That one belonged to the head of the Hyuuga clan who swore his loyalty to the Shodaime Hokage. It was his son who became head and created the branch family. He put half his siblings in the branch, too. So his dad was the last decent head. Anyways, it's time I got it back in the Hyuuga family. I stole it from the head before Hiashi. Which is probably why the Hyuuga hate me so much. Anyways, it's your now"

"Thank you very much, Ashura-san" Neji replied politely.

Takashi was the last one to hand over his present. It was a painting of the pine tree by the hot springs as the sun came up. "It's not very good, but it seemed appropriate" he said sheepishly. "Maya picked it out"

After Neji had thanked everyone numerous times, and the fondant au chocolate was presented and eaten, Ashura declared it time for karaoke. As Neji wouldn't be caught dead singing, and Maya was busy being shy, Ino got up first and sang "Happy Birthday", and then "Sakura drops". He had to admit she had a really nice voice.

As soon as the song was over, Sakura stuck her tongue out and grinned "Watch and see how it's done" she said.

She picked out "Shiawase ni Narou" and started to sing. Ino watched Maya out of the corner of her eye. Maya hummed along with the chorus, but seemed not to know who Sakura was asking "Do you really, really want to see a brighter day?"

Eventually, everyone except Neji and Maya got up to sing. Even Koyuki sang the Icha Icha movie's theme song. The night finally finished with Sakura and Ino singing "Harmonia", which they sang whenever there was karaoke.

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Everyone, even Neji (who was a freakishly early riser), slept in the next morning. It was three in the afternoon or so by the time Kakashi woke up. He walked in to find Ashura dumping a bottle of his special sake over his bowl of rice.

"That's just gross" he said nonchalantly.

"Sweet things in the morning are the best." Ashura replied happily.

"That's still technically drinking with breakfast" Kakashi sighed and sat down.

"Sure as hell is." Ashura smiled.

"So where's our little last of the Uchiha now?" Kakashi ladled out some rice for himself. "Itadakimasu!"

"She's going over her Jyuuken with Neji one last time. I never learned the damn style, and it's not like there are a whole lot of places to learn it." Ashura slurped up the rest of the sake sitting in a pool at the bottom of his rice bowl.

"Yeah. Jeez. She's a good kid."

"Yeah. I suppose she is"

"…Yeah"

"I'll have to weed that out, I guess." Ashura grinned wickedly. Kakashi sighed.

"Try not to screw her up too much. Tsunade-sama would kill you if Maya…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Turned out like her traitor-asshole-uncles?" Ashura finished. "Naw. But tell Tsunade-hime that she is clearly forgetting how she was."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I don't think Maya-chan is gonna settle into the whole 'get married young and have lots of kids' thing any more than Tsunade-hime herself did. Mind you, you're too young to remember any of this, but lots of people wanted her to carry on the Shodaime's line. But she never did. And Tsunade's clearly forgetting that. Besides, the whole point of sending her to me was to get the Hyuuga off her ass. Re-founding a clan that stole some of their 'glory' would hardly put her on the list of people to invite to the head's wedding. Speaking of which- isn't there some rumor about your student and the soon-to-be head?" Ashura asked.

"Jesus. No. I am not even going there. Sensei would kill me if he knew that I even whispered to you about Naruto."

"Oh, you're no fun. When we were both young the Yondaime-chan and I-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS! DO NOT WANT!" Kakashi interrupted.  
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"Bye, Maya-chan." Ino said tearfully. Maya was also trying not to cry.

"It's not like it's sayonara. This is just Ja'ne. I'll make you proud" Maya replied.

"You better. I wouldn't expect anything else from a girl who calls me Nee-chan. Take care of yourself. And you can always count on me if you need me." Ino smiled.

"I know, I know" Maya gave her one last hug. "Now go back home. And don't forget to invite me to your wedding!" she ducked the punch that Ino half-heartedly threw.

"Alright. Who could forget such an annoying imoto" she teased. Then, more seriously, "I am going to miss you"

"I'll miss you too. But you have to go, or else everyone is gonna leave you behind" Maya pointed out.

Ino gave her a kiss on the cheek before running to catch up with her departing best friend and boyfriend. Kakashi was already much farther ahead of them.

"Ino-"

"Maya-"

"-you aren't crying, are you?" both Takashi and Neji asked simultaineously.

"Nope" the replies came a little choked with tears. Both male pairs of eyes softened a little. "Not a bit"

Maya suddenly stood up, ran to the edge of Ashura's sanctuary, and cupped her hands over her mouth. By that time, the group was already growing smaller and smaller.

"OI! INO-NEE-CHAN! SAKURA-NEE-CHAN! KAKASHI-OJI-CHAN! NEJI-NII-CHAN! I'M GONNA BE BACK IN KONOHA BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, A STRONG, BEAUTIFUL, GENIUS KUNOICHI, JUST YOU WAIT! PROMISE OF A LIFETIME!" she yelled.

They had stopped and all turned around to look at her.

"PROMISE OF A LIFETIME!" Maya heard the returning yell and smiled through her tears.

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Whoa! This turned into such a long chapter. And a little sappy towards the end. But I hope you forgive me for that… Jeez, there are so many notes I want to make… I'll limit myself now, though. The songs- Sakura Drops is by Hikaru Utada (I only realized the humor in having Ino sing a song titled after her rival after I had it planned out. I picked it because it talks about falling in love, saying goodbye, then falling in love again, so I figured it'd be a pretty good song for her to sing), and so is Shiawase ni Narou (Obviously, Sakura was singing it to Sasuke on some level). And then "Harmonia" is an ending theme for the anime, which shows Sakura and Ino singing, so… yeah. And I put Koyuki in because she was cool, and so is Yuki no Kuni, even if the movie was sucky. Sad but true. Anyways, Takashi is a character from the Naruto pilot, but he died. So I revived him and stuck him with Ashura. Wow. A fate worse than death. I wanted to make the painting he gives Neji be "symbol", but that would be (even more) cheesy. Okay… I think that wraps it up.

Now for the preview!

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It's been six long years, and things have changed- the Hyuuga have a new head, war has come to an uneasy peace, and there just might be a new Hokage on the horizon. Unfortunately, Naruto swore he wouldn't take on the mantle of Rokudaime until he'd fulfilled his promise of a lifetime to Sakura. Tsunade-sama has decided that the time has come for Sasuke to be brought back to Konoha, with a little unexpected help. So it's off through Sand to get to Snow, to make team seven complete again. Meanwhile, Sasuke is only three days away from Itachi, and with any luck, his revenge. Four people have been waiting…

Only For That Day

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Gah. That was horribly cheesy. The four people are Sasuke (the day he finally kills Itachi), Sakura, Naruto, and Maya respectively (the day they finally bring Sasuke back). We're also going to be seeing some Itachi, some Kisame, a bit of Hinata and the Hyuuga clan, Neji and Ino, Gaara and the sand siblings (and Temari and Shikamaru's kids), and others! Whoot. Anyways, if you have any ideas, I'm taking them! This is the time to submit them, as I can afford to change stuff around a lot now. Later I'm gonna be more constricted, so if you have anything you want to see, review and tell me! Oh… and this one is going to be a SasuSaku. Just letting you know. Though, knowing me, I'll probably be sneaking as much HinaNaru in there as possible. And I'm going to be writing a HinaNaru called "Kitsune no Yomeiri" at the same time… Jesus… And I still have three others I'll still be updating. God, I don't know how to pace myself. So here's the epilogue. And the prologue for Only For That Day.

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Epilogue:

"Girls" Ashura said confidently "Can be very cute too"

"Damn straight. About time you listened to reason. Now you have a proper shrine maiden." Jiraiya agreed.

Maya rolled her eyes and set down the platter of snacks and sake. As she was turning around, something made her drop the empty bottle of sake she was holding.

"Ah… it even feels like a boy's" Ashura said in a happily perverted voice. His hand was on Maya's ass.

She turned around with a killing intent her eldest uncle would have been proud of. Then she reached over and pulled on his hair. He burst into flames.

When he had risen from the ashes again, he sputtered. "Who taught you that?"

"Tsunade-sama. She said you might pull something" Maya replied. "And I'll gladly do it again"

"Freakishly strong slug-queen" Ashura muttered.

In Konoha, doing paperwork, Tsunade sneezed.

He never touched her ass again.

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Prologue: Six years later

"Oh, Maya-chan, you've grown so much!"

"Ashura-sensei, if you don't lower your hand, I'll break it"

"And so violent!"

"I'm serious, Ashura-sensei"

"You could be nice to me. It is your last day here"

"Yeah, right. You could be gentlemanly and not perverted. It is my last day here. But that's gonna happen like your shrine boys are gonna turn Seme on you. I'm warning you…"

"Oh, Ma-ya-chaaan…"

"I warned you"

And then there was a noise similar to "FWOOM", or, in other words, as if a six foot eight structure had just gone up in flames. That was, incidentally, exactly what had happened.

"Now that was mean!"

"No, that was fair. I warned you. And I'll do it again"

"You know spontaneous combustion gives me a migraine!"

"Deal with it. This is my last breakfast here, and then I'm heading out"

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And there you have it. Please read the sequel! Should be out on the 27th!

Kyo 


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